Solo's Friend
by Late Night After Hours
Summary: Morals are in question thanks to Geo, combine this with a growing depression and confusion and Solo is unsure what to do. He meets a psychic one day, and she tells him that all he needs is a friend. With a potion, Solo manages to get a friend, but it ends up turning into an unhealthy relationship, and it's clear that Solo is losing it. Darkfic. Contains: torture, self-harm.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Before anyone says it, yes, Solo is an independent person and he would never make friends blah, blah, blah. I agree, I can't see him making friends for a while either, moreover admitting to himself he needs a companion, but maybe deep in his mind he desires someone, perhaps, giving it time, he will eventually want a friend. To put it short, it's a fanfic, and I like to think about characters and how they feel and/or what they can become. Okay, that out of the way, I wanna make a small warning, StarForce is quite light hearted, this story will not be. It's going to have darker themes including, but not limited to, abuse and self-harm, it might also get a tad perverse at times. If any of these things offend you/trigger anything you may wanna leave, if not, proceed. Please though, no flames, I know Mega Man isn't known for darkfics, but I want to give it a try, hopefully someone will like it. ANYWAY, sorry for all this, let's get started!**

The air is cold, so, so cold, much colder than usual, and it wasn't even winter yet. The sun is high in the air, and despite no clouds to block its rays, it does little to help with this freezing temperature. On a day like this people would normally stay inside, schools would get cancelled, snow would pile up in the streets, heaters would be running. The key phrase from all that is that no one would step outside, and that holds true for all but one. There was one lonesome figure treading snowy grounds, he was dressed heavily, sure, but he still felt cold, not cold enough to make him lose focus, however.

The lonesome figure watches intently, his gaze falling upon a single white rabbit. He dares not to move from his position from behind a bush, one wrong misstep and his hungry belly would continue its fast, and it's already been two days, the figure is hungry, starving even.

The rabbit's ears prick up as it picks up a sound, it looks around, scanning the large, heavily snowed-in forest. In less than a second, the rabbit jolts off, leaving its predator to stand up and growl in frustration.

"What the hell!" he shouts. "Laplace, did _you_ scare it off?!"

Alongside the figure emerges the one called Laplace, he looks down at his fellow Murian and releases some buzzing sounds, which is his way of defending himself, claiming that he hadn't made a single sound since the two left their home. At this, the Murian tosses his bow and arrow to the ground, cursing out of anger and frustration. In response to this, Laplace places an arm around its master, attempting to comfort him, this action only causes the Murian to snap.

"For the last _damn_ time Laplace, I don't need you comforting me! I don't need anyone! You stupid- to think you're Mu technology! What a joke! What can you even do besides turn into a blade? You most certainly can't help me catch any prey that's for sure!"

Laplace felt pained as Master insulted him. Lately, it seems that Master's been getting angrier and angrier, the past week it has been snowing really badly, causing the weather to get down to freezing temperatures. Laplace knows how hungry Master is, sure the two had salvaged many zenny from numerous virus battles, but it meant nothing if stores weren't open. Indeed, the snow has been so bad that stores were closed in towns and cities, meaning that Solo is forced to find animals to cook and eat, which is what he prefers anyway, but usually on bad days he heads toward a town and gets something. Today, however, is another day where bad fortune smiles and grabs at him harshly, digging its sharp nails into the boy's side, causing his body to feel numb…or maybe that's just the cold.

"We're heading home," Solo sighs, turning around and heading out of the forest.

Laplace follows, wishing he could say something encouraging to Master, but sadly, the Wizard simply isn't smart enough with human emotions to know exactly what to say.

Solo walks along the snowy trail, following his own footsteps, he sees Laplace suddenly fly before him, Solo is in no mood to put up with the Wizard's stupid attempts to cheer him up, he has stopped being happy long ago. Laplace begins to dance, spreading his arms and moving them up and down, his hands balled up into fists. His attempts go unnoticed, as Solo was looking down at the snow below. Laplace give up, silently following his human companion until the two reach a giant rock formation far out in the middle of a field. Solo uses his strength to move a bolder to the side, revealing a small hole down below to crawl into. He gets down on all fours and enters, a few feet inside the rocks was a wooden door, which Solo opens, the door moving toward him. Once inside, he shuts the door and the small crawlspace gets larger, large enough for him to stand up on his knees, and within a good four feet, a small set of stairs let down to a large room.

Upon reaching the room, Laplace heads for the couch and lies upon it, it isn't the comfiest thing in the world, but it is comfy enough. Solo takes off his heavy winter clothes, revealing his normal outfit underneath, he tosses the clothes to the side and heads toward the heater, which he flicks on. Despite living inside of a rock formation, the place does indeed have electricity and access to heat, it's made by someone Solo came into contact with many years ago, the two aren't friends by any means, but the two do meet up once every month, mostly cause the artist who built this demands payment from Solo, it is an expensive place, mostly due to the heat and electricity Solo uses, which needs to be replaced every month, hence the man coming over. But it isn't just zenny the man wants in turn, oh no, to keep Solo's house private the boy is forced to _talk_ to the man when he comes too. That was the only downside to this place, the fact that in order to keep his privacy, he doesn't want cops knocking at his door and taking him to away to an orphanage, he has to sit down and have dinner with the man on payment night. Luckily, the man isn't a creeper, in fact, he always seems interested in Solo's bloodline; the ancient Mu folk. Honestly, it felt good hearing praise from someone for being the last of Mu, he doesn't get that often, usually all he gets are weird looks, which he's sadly gotten used to over the years.

The Murian takes a seat on his makeshift table made out of a large tree stump that he crafted long ago, the seat he sits upon is also a tree stump, but smaller. On the other side of the table is another chair, however, no one ever sits there. Well, Laplace floats above it sometimes, but he usually prefers to stay on the floor. The extra chair on the other side only pained the boy, causing his heart to feel weak, and his mind getting depressed. He stares forward, his eyes narrowing down to that of a sad expression, his mouth knit into a frown, a frown that has been stuck on his face for as long as he could remember.

He can't explain exactly why he's been feeling this way recently, but he knows that pesky Geo Stelar is to blame, he hasn't seen his rival in a while, but last time he did one of Geo's friends got hurt, a small one with glasses, the boy nearly died, and Solo stood not too far away, watching from a hill as the group of friends all cried their eyes out. What happened to the kid is unknown to the Murian, he guessed some viruses got loose or something, but just watching the friends all gathered around one crying gave Solo mixed feelings. For as long as he could reminiscent he hated friendship, he never had anyone stood up for him, never had a single friend, sure they were all strong together but alone, his bullies were easy targets. He pledged he would always be alone and stay alone, never let anyone into his life, but slowly, he began to feel lonely, and that day when he saw MegaMan cry, something struck, it was almost a sudden shock. He had no remorse for the dying kid, yet, he yearned to help him, to ease the pain of the others. Ever since Solo met his rival he would every now and again ask himself: is being alone all the time worth it though? He could then curse at himself for denying his own principle, after all, the Murians were independent warriors as well, it's simply in his blood…

So why is he beginning to feel more and more depressed, more and more needy of another body beside his own? Why is it that suddenly being alone is a bad thing?

'Damn you, Geo Stelar,' he swears in his mind. 'I fight you again and again, yet you have more wins than me! Am I wrong? I can't be! But…my ancestors died, and they were loners. No, I can't be thinking such thoughts!' The Murian sits up feels his head swim, his mind is confused, he feels conflicted. Perhaps…he _is_ wrong after all. The main source of MegaMan's power comes from others, and as powerful as Solo is, he falls at his rival's feet again and again. His thoughts get interrupted once he hears Laplace come floating in from the other room.

"Someone's at the door?" Solo asks. "It's probably Riki, though he's here early." Solo goes back up the stairs, through the door, and reaches the outside, he sees the very artist who built his house stand before him, a heavy coat practically swallowing the young man's thin frame.

"Why so early? And why on such a terrible day?" Solo asks.

Riki's voice is shaking, "I need to speak with you. May I come inside?"

Solo is hesitant, he hadn't bothered cleaning up the place in a while, and some clothes and dirt littered his floor, but this is the man that could very well get the orphanage people on Solo's ass, so the Murian leads Riki inside.

"Ok," Solo begins. "Why are you here?"

Riki removes the hood of his winter coat, "Well, I'm getting married!"

Solo crosses his arms, "Okay, care to tell me something important?"

Riki frowns, "Well, I will be on vacation soon, I'm going away, and I wanted to know if you could give me the money early, I have your electric and heat power in my jeep. Please? I need the cash for the vacay, the wife, well, future wife, and I are getting married during our vacation. Come on, lend a hand."

Solo sighs, "Alright."

"Hey, are you alright? You seem kind sad."

"Sad? I'm only annoyed, you know I hate visitors, especially visitors who show up out of the blue."

"Look, it's for a good cause, you're not gonna be lonely without me are ya?"

"Don't make me laugh," Solo makes the transaction quick, transferring his zenny over to Riki, in seconds the thin man thanks Solo for his business, and turns to leave. Solo feels relieved though, looks like no talking tonight, he never liked Riki's company.

'You know deep down you do,' a voice says.

Solo grits his teeth angrily, ignoring that random thought that popped in his conscious. He turns around and sits on his couch, reaching over the ledge for his pipe. Laplace buzzes, asking Solo if he wanted to play video games, but Solo declines, claiming he rather smoke instead. Laplace begins to float aimlessly around the room as Solo releases puffs of white smoke. He tries to focus on clearing his thoughts, but he finds Laplace's constant moving in his vision to be irritating. He takes a deep breath and puffs out more smoke from the long pipe, at this point, Laplace is buzzing again, he's singing, it's the same song Laplace always sings when he is bored, Solo has pestered him time and time again to knock it off, but the Wizard never listens, almost as if he forgets every time. Considering how dimwitted Laplace is, Solo wouldn't be surprised if Laplace really did forget every time.

At this point, Solo loses his temper, "Dammit Laplace, find something to do!"

Laplace flinches at the sudden booming voice, sure Master can be loud, but he's never this loud, nor does he ever sound this angry. Laplace retorts, saying that Solo needs to smoke something more than just tobacco. This only causes the Murian to get even angrier.

"You have got to be the dumbest Wizard out there! It's as if you were created by morons!" He felt terrible after he said that, as his own people, whom he is so fascinated with, created Laplace, and again, Solo feels conflicted. "Honestly, my life was a lot better before you, you and your stupid words, I only ever put up with you simply because you are Mu technology, I admit, we are connected, but only because of our heritage." Solo turns his gaze away from Laplace, "What the hell is wrong with me…now I'm starting to not care for Mu so much, I'm just so depress-" he refused to finish the last word, he places his pipe down and curls up on the couch. "I need help, don't I?"

Laplace flies over to Solo, he pats the boy on his head and rubs his fingers through his hair.

"Don't even bother, I'm not who I used to be, it's all Geo's fault, I just can't stop thinking about our battles, I even have nightmares of the days when I lived on the streets, the day my parents just left me. They _left_ me, and they didn't even say why! It was only years later did I know why…"

Solo remembers back to a few months ago, he was exploring a ruin, which took a good week to travel to, followed by a week trip back home, while there he found a pile of books, the books looked new, and they belonged to someone, but Solo was curious, as the first book he had never seen before.

The book was called 'The Last of Mu'.

Solo had to look into it, he picked it right up and was greeted with the first page, a thank you sort of page. The words were a thanks to Solo's mother, and father, who had apparently given their lives in an attempt to stop Le Mu from being awakened, they were killed by Hollow.

That day, that very moment, Solo felt as though he had committed a crime; he had tried to _help_ Dr. Vega and Hollow resurrect Le Mu, as they all wanted Mu's technology back.

"That's why they left," Solo says as Laplace begins to rub his back. "They left me to go and prevent Le Mu from being awoken, I only wanted our current world to see the great that was Mu technology…but Le Mu, it just wanted to _destroy_ us all! They died in vain, Laplace! They wanted to protect everyone, and I tried to awaken it! They didn't want me to get hurt. To think I worked with Vega and Hollow! How could I have not known?! Why did someone only recently get a hold of that information?! _They died in vain, Laplace!_ " With the rant over, the boy puts his head back into his arms. "I miss you Mother, Father, and I'm so sorry I failed!"

Solo sobs silently, all Laplace can do is gently rub the boy's back, in hopes it'll do something, he too feels deep sorrow, he also misses the Murian people, but mostly, he feels bad for Solo. The kid has his issues, sure he's a little too independent, and a bit of a stubborn grouch, but he had good intentions when he told Laplace about the time he helped reawaken Le Mu. Solo didn't want to rule the world, he didn't want to kill mass amounts of people, he just wanted to bring their culture back, have it so the people of today could see what the Murian people were like.

"I'm sorry," Laplace nearly jumped, Master never apologizes. "I'm better now, things are just getting hard for me. I try to understand my problems, but I can't. I think one way my whole life, and suddenly I'm hit with "oh no you're wrong" again and again. It's not easy." Solo sighs, "I know the death of my parents isn't my fault, and I know our people weren't as independent as I am, I am not blind, but I just…I don't know, it's hard to look at things differently when you've been stuck inside this single bubble for so long. I'm not normal by the average person's standards, I'm starting to see what they see now. I _am_ a freak."

Laplace denies Solo's claims, telling him that he may be different, but he's still no freak.

Solo looks down at his lap, "Maybe I should go somewhere, head out for a walk, I know it's freezing, but I think better when I'm outside," he stands up. "You should stay here, I have a lot I need to think about…"

Laplace was about to retort, but he figures it would be better if he gave Master some space, especially because every time he attempts to cheer Master up he fails, sometimes only making it worse.

Solo throws his warm coat back on and heads for the outside, he notices that Riki is gone, and he feels relieved, he really doesn't want to see that man's stupid smiling face. Or maybe he does…he isn't sure anymore. He begins his tread, heading towards Echo Ridge, he likes it there, it has many unique shops that Solo likes to visit late at night on some days, not to mention the library is open 24/7, and all the nice food places had organic things. Of course, Solo figures everything is closed tonight, but he thinks he'll go check, just in case.

As he draws closer and closer he can feel the night's snow begin to freeze his nose, he ignores it to the best of his ability, but finds the air much too cold to ignore. He debates on going back, but sees a small carriage before Echo Ridge's entrance. Curious, as he had never seen it before, Solo walked up to the carriage. It has no horses at front, yet had reigns attached, there was a small poster on the side. Solo looks closely and reads: "Come and see the lady who sees all, for 200 zenny, you can know everything and so much more!"

Solo rolls his eyes, sounds like a scam, a traveling con artist, bah. He was about to turn right back around when his mind felt as though he needed to go in, just to see, after all, Solo has read stories of psychics accurately predicting futures, even Mu had psychics of sorts. For amusement and nothing more, or so he tells himself, he decides to head in, opening a small door.

Once inside, the room was filled with a lilac smell, the floor had a wolf's skin rug, the head baring its teeth right at him. There is a small, round desk, all around the walls are dream catchers and animal heads. A middle aged woman sits before the desk, she is smiling, and her clothing of choice was a single dress, it appears to be animal fur, her hat looks like some kind of beret, but it has many feathers sticking out. She wears a necklace with a giant pendant, and her face is decorated with makeup.

"Hi," Solo greets, kind of digging the woman's style of decorations, he always did have a thing with traditional handmade stuff.

"You know it's polite to knock," the woman motions at a small stool before her table. "Come, have a seat."

Solo takes off his hood and has a seat, he notices the woman's eyes widening with amusement, "So, you read things about people that they don't know?"

She grins, it appears to be a friendly grin, but her eyes scan Solo up and down, making him a little uncomfortable, "Yes, oh, do you mind if I smoke my pipe while I do this?"

Solo shakes his head, "Not at all…"

"Thanks, the name's Fantasey, that's 'fantasy' but with a soft 'ch' sound instead of an 's', I come from an old tribe that was killed long ago, they passed down their psychic abilities to me," Fantasey reaches below her and reveals a long pipe, she begins to smoke it.

"A tribe?" Solo's interests piques, "What tribe is that?"

"We were a small tribe, mostly made up of Atlantians who had run away, we were called 'Little Salvage'."

"I've heard of them, when Atlantis was at war with Mu many of the people from Atlantis ran away and sought out their own lives."

Fantasey puffs out a hue of white smoke, leaning her head into her hand, "Yup, but one of Mu's tribes found us, it was Zerker if I recall, they traded things with us, and let us go, but years later as we grew, Netopia became a different country, and we were forced to be like everyone. Our land was taken, and we lived in cities."

"But you don't mind all that, so you outcast yourself, and you continue living your people's traditions?"

Fantasey shrugs, "Kind of, I know you do just that though, you're the last of Mu after all."

"Did my looks give it away?"

"Not necessarily, sure white hair and red eyes are uncommon, but I've seen a few others like that, I know all about you thanks to the whispers from my ancestors."

"Sounds like crazy talk."

Fantasey sits up, "It does, doesn't it, perhaps I shall prove my legitimacy by giving you some answers."

Solo furrows his brows, "To what?"

Fantasey places her pipe down and reaches forward, "Give me your hand." Solo reaches out and places his right hand into Fantasey's hands. The woman closes her eyes for a few seconds, then she opens them, "You are very lonely, you used to enjoy it, but now you find yourself desiring someone at your side."

Solo pulls away, "That's…not true."

"Even your voice can no longer mask your lies, and you were always good with voice control. You want to give friendship a chance, but you are unsure on how to do it, your mind also screams for you to not leave your bubble, to keep the thin walls up, but that's just it, the bubble will eventually pop. Humans are social creatures by heart, Solo, even you know this."

Solo looks down, perhaps the whispers she claimed she hears are real after all, she even knows his name, "So what do I do?" he asks, almost afraid of the answer she may give.

"I can easily help you, but you'll need to give me a night to prepare the ingredients."

"Ingredients?"

"Come back tomorrow, I am very tired."

"But wait, what did you mean-"

"You will see, now leave, I must prepare something important before I head to bed."

Solo stands up, puts his hood back on, and heads back out. His mind goes back to what she said about what she told him earlier, what with her tribe and all. He feels a little happy that he met someone who at least has some sort of connection with Mu, in a way anyhow. He looks beyond at Echo Ridge, he sees some lights, but overall it was very dark.

'Why would she need ingredients?' he asks as he heads back home.

* * *

Red eyes slowly open and the Murian is hit with a reminder about last night. Slowly, Solo sits up from his makeshift bed, pushing his furry blanket off him. Upon standing, he feels almost excited to go back and see what Fantasey has for him, maybe it'll end all of his problems. He doubts it, but at least maybe it'll help.

As he leaves his bed to go get dressed his stomach growls madly, reminding him he still hasn't eaten in days. He blushes, knowing Laplace is awake and probably heard it, and changes his lounging clothes in for his regular outfit. He prays that the snow will let off for today, he really wants to catch some breakfast, and he really doesn't like the idea of freezeng to death while attempting to do so.

Laplace appears and floats over, he claims that it's still cold, but it isn't snowing, the lake where Solo catches his fish is, however, still frozen, so catching fish is out of the question.

"I think I should go see Fantasey first anyway, I hope she's awake. I just want to know what she needs ingredients for. Do you think she's making me a potion?"

Laplace shrugs.

Solo grabs his coat and heads outside, Laplace comes with this time, going inside of Solo's Hunter-VG. The air outside isn't nearly as cold as yesterday, but it's still heavy-coat cold, that's for sure. It taks a few minutes, but Fantasey's little area is reached, and Solo makes sure to knock this time.

"Come on in!" a voice calls from inside.

With no hesitation, Solo opens the door and steps inside, "Fantasey."

Fantasey is seen putting away books onto small bookshelves, she left one book out, however, "Ah, greetings, any bad dreams last night?"

"No," Solo denies, but he sees her give him a knowing look. He scowls, "So, you're aware of my dreams as well?"

Fantasey heads toward her table and picks up a rather large bottle, it has a big base with a small neck, inside is a white, almost cream colored liquid. "This is what I made you," she declares.

Solo steps forward and examines the bottle, "What is it?"

"You want a friend, do you not?"

Solo frowns, "Well…"

"Then take this, and here are the instructions," Fantasey attaches a yellow sticky note onto the bottle, she then hands the bottle to Solo. "If you follow the instructions then you shall have the best possible match-up friend you can ask for."

Solo takes a small look at the liquid inside, "Thought you said all my problems will be solved."

Fantasey grins, "Oh but they will be, for my boy, you see, all you need is a friend who is much like you, someone who knows everything about you, someone who _is_ you."

Solo looks back at the liquid again, he shakes the glass bottle back and forth, judging by how slowly it moves, he guesses it is rather thick and paste-like.

Fantasey then stands before Solo, her hand out, "Now then, 200 zenny."

Solo looks away, "Don't you do transactions via Transers, Star Carriers, or Hunter-VGs?"

Fantasey sighs, "I do indeed have my Star Carrier here." She reaches back to her desk and picks up the small device. A quick transaction and Solo pays up.

"Ok, thanks, I guess." Solo said, turning around for the door.

Fantasey turns her back to Solo, "Oh no problem." She appears to be looking for something on another shelf.

Solo looks over at the book she left on the counter, it is a potion book, he looks at Fantasey, then back at the book, "Goodbye," he says, taking the book and hiding it in his coat.

"Remember, follow the instructions carefully," Fantasey warns.

"I will," with that, Solo is back outside, glass bottle and book in hand. At this point, Laplace is floating besides Solo. "I should go see to this potion quickly, and maybe check out this book," the Murian only took a few steps before his stomach voices its demand, the Murian gets a look of irritation on his face and Laplace laughs. "Shut up!"

* * *

Later that day, the clouds began to clear up, showing a rather blue sky and bright sun. It is a little warmer thanks to the UV rays, but the air still feels bitter. Solo has decided to order some food rather than attempt to hunt his own that day, he is in a rush, he wants to head back home and try out this new potion given to him. Upon coming inside, Solo takes off his coat, throws it to the floor, and looks at the sticky-note. He places the book down on his couch, deciding to look at that later.

"Okay, it says I am to drink half of this for one problem solved, I am to not drink the whole bottle in one sitting unless I want one more problem. Simple enough I suppose."

Laplace voices his concern, asking if this is really such a good idea.

Solo smells the liquid, it has no odor, he then shakes the liquid around again, watching the sides of the bottle as the liquid slowly slides down the thick glass. "Here goes nothing, I guess," he lifts the bottle up to his lips, taking a small sip. He stops, looking at the concerned Wizard before him. "It has a creamy taste, kind of like raw milk, it's pretty good," he takes another sip, drinking the thick liquid slowly. After a small amount of time, he removes the tip from his lips and glances at the bottle; he drank about half, a little less than.

He places the drink down on his table, "Okay, so now I get a friend?"

Laplace shrugs, looking carefully at the glass bottle on the table. He stares at it closely, Solo almost wondered if Laplace was expecting the liquid to explode or change color.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work, what do you say we go do some training?"

Laplace nods, almost excited to begin another training session.

"I'm in the mood to fight viruses today," the Murian stands still and puts his hands out, focusing his mind. "EM Wave Change, Solo On The Air!" with that, Solo has turned into a being of pure wave lengths, he's known as the devastating fighter, Rogue. "Let's go, I hope I see MegaMan, I really feel like taking all my frustration out on him"

 **A/N: So nothing too bad yet. Solo is very ooc, believe me I had a hard time writing this chapter, the whole time all I want to do is make him less, I dunno, angsty? But I also don't want this to be too long, I was originally gonna make this longer and way more detailed, but I rather not. Anyway, if you don't like it tell me why not, and don't say it's because Solo is acting a bit (ok maybe a lot) different, the boy is confused, teens are strange, Solo is strange. As for Laplace, I kind of want to make actual dialogue for him, but I feel like it's better if I explain what he says, since he makes sounds to communicate, I feel like just summarizing what he says suits the situation better.**


	2. Chapter 2

'Today…is another day. Nothing special.'

Solo said those words to himself as he woke up, he feels rather groggy and depressed. Another night battling nightmares, this time, he turned into a monster, and killed two people; his deceased parents. He recalls both of them looked like living corpses, their skin pale and blotchy, hair missing in patches, and his mother even had a fake arm made of metal, meanwhile his father was missing a leg. They were begging, telling Solo they loved him, but monster Solo ended up eating them with his sharp teeth, ripping them apart, eating at their flesh, and laughing as they screamed. The dream caused him to wake up, and he had two more dreams after that, both of them a bit foggy to remember. Overall, he didn't sleep well.

Right away, Laplace starts to snuggle Solo, ramming his head right up against him, causing the Murian to roll his eyes, "Laplace, stop."

The Wizard is ecstatic to tell Solo that while the sun may be blocked by clouds today, it is much warmer than it's been in a week!

The Murian boy stands up and yawns, he heads toward his clothes rack, once he got changed, he heads toward his cabinet, his goal is to make some tea. Upon entering the kitchen area, his eyes fall upon the potion that he received yesterday. That reminds him, when and how does he get his friend?

Solo takes his tea bag, his kettle, and the iron pieces to support the kettle, he then heads outside, determined to cook his tea. Since he doesn't have an oven, the only way he is able to cook things, is by heading outside and setting up a fire. Luckily, his house does have a cave behind it, sometimes he cooks right out in the open in front of his house, but on cold autumn days such as this, he prefers to heat thing in the cave. Laplace happily goes with Solo, passing through the walls and waiting until Solo makes his way out. Once out, the two heads towards the back of the rock formation, and then deep inside the cavern. Solo is quick to start up a fire, he keeps many sticks in the back, and he sets up his kettle set with no issues. As he sits, waiting for the tea to cook up, he feels a small kick of nausea begin to hit his stomach. He ignores it, passing it off as him needing to find and eat breakfast then.

"Today I'm thinking of hunting down Geo and demanding a fight," Solo lifts his tea cup, which was already inside the kettle when he took it outside, and begins to pour some chamomile tea into it. He takes a sip, feeling its warmth enter his mouth, go down his throat, and hit his gut, making him feel warm and even a bit happy inside. Solo always loved chamomile tea, more so than smoking his pipe.

Laplace responds with a simple agreement, he has no problem with Master fighting Geo Stelar, especially cause he can see the two being friends one day. Eventually, it just needs time, and Master needs to mature, he's only thirteen, fourteen in a week.

Solo finishes his tea, the whole kettle now empty, he stands up, feeling another wave of nausea hit him, he begins to worry a little, but again, he passes it off as nutritional lack, due to his depression, he has lost his appetite too, quite frankly yesterday was the first time he felt genuinely hungry in a good month. Usually he'd force himself to eat, but found most days he just couldn't. But, he knows he needs to keep his strength up, and Solo always has been a health-obsessed individual.

Solo heads back inside, as he was about to head back out, but his eyes fall upon the book he stole yesterday. Curiosity began to take over, and he decides maybe a small peek won't hurt. He sits down on his couch and looks at the hard, and rather large, book. The front cover is a dark purple color, it has a picture of a pot with a lime-green substance inside of it. It has no author, and the back and spine of the book are completely blank. Solo opens the first page and is created with big, bold letters that said: "Spells for love."

It really is a spell book, so the potion Solo drank must be a part of some witchcraft, or is this tribal magic? He did recall hearing about Fantasey's tribe possessing magical abilities, but they were never proven, and most historians passed it off as false. Solo himself isn't sure what to believe, anything is possible, right? The original Tribe King was said to EM Wave Change on his own before Le Mu granted the ability of self-EM Wave Changing to all the Murians, so perhaps magic is possible?

As the page is flipped Laplace gets next to Solo, looking at the book with him. "So, doing these things forces someone to love you," Solo notes as he reads the first spell. Indeed it is a genuine, straightforward love potion. The steps are rather simple, but the last sentence is in bold, stating that misusing the spell will make the opposite happen, people will hate the spell caster.

Solo begins scanning the book, flipping through many pages until one piques his interest, it is a spell that supposedly allows a user to speak to the dead. Although the idea kind of freaks Solo out, he also thinks how interesting it could be if he could contact his ancestors, maybe reach for them for advice, ask them more questions about their individual lives, anything really! Maybe he could even be told where other Mu relics are hidden.

In the midst of his thought, Solo feels a sudden pain course through his abdomen, causing him to bend over. Laplace immediately is concerned. Solo places the book down and claims to be fine, waving it off as if he felt okay. Within seconds, the pain subsides, but there is still a deep nausea there, and Solo feels his head get a little warm. He was beginning to think that it wasn't hunger causing this, but rather that he is getting sick. He doesn't get sick often, but when he does, he is miserable.

Laplace places his hand on Solo's head, "Am I warm?" Solo asks. Laplace shakes his head, "I just feel really nauseated right now, I think I'm going to…"

Laplace backs off, Solo heads towards his room with his hands over his mouth, he pulls out a clay bucket from the side that he made years ago, the first of many that is, so messing it up didn't bother him. He sits before it, looking at his reflection in the mirror as he feels his body convulse. His stomach lurches, he removes his hand, ready to release whatever was inside, but nothing came, he doesn't even gag, almost as if his body had a false alarm. He sighs heavily and feels Laplace rub his back, using his large fingers to push deeply into his skin. Solo sighs again, this time it was a mix of plain and pleasure, he will admit, Laplace was always good with massaging. Suddenly, Solo feels another lurch and this time he manages to gag a little, however, whatever was trying to come out only slid back down his throat, much to his disgust. He is shaking at this time, feeling his body go cold from all the sudden stress, his stomach is killing him, he desperately wants to throw up, but it seems impossible.

"I can't…" he huffs, he feels out of breath, his breathing increasing and growing more desperate. "Laplace, I can't!" His arm wraps around his abdomen, his head swims, and he feels like he is having a panic attack. He begins to gag again, managing to spit something up this time, only to gasp when he realizes that whatever it is, it is all black and sludge-like. He wipes his lips and holds the sleeve up to his eyes, indeed, he spewed some type of black sludge. At this point, the pain is making his eyes water, and he feels as though he will pass out at any moment now. Laplace had stopped touching Solo at this point, but he can see the boy physically shake and go pale as he began to gag once again, this time nearly choking as he coughs out a whole glob of black sludge.

"What has that potion done to me?!" Solo asks, "Laplace, I wish you could read our language! I need someone to look at that book and-" he stops, bending back over the bucket and coughing again and again, feeling more panic as he realizes that he can't breathe. The sludge is stuck in his throat! Laplace notices Solo moving around, holding his neck, the Wizard panics and wraps his arms around Solo's abdomen, squeezing hard in sudden jerks in an attempt to help Solo spit whatever is choking him out. Solo wasn't hacking it up, and he wasn't breathing, Laplace knows that if Solo would pass out here and now, he would die. Laplace attempts to lift Solo up, his body now aligned with his, he continues squeezes hard, shouting at Solo to not give up.

Finally, Solo hacks it up, a whole bunch of black liquid spewing out of his mouth. Laplace places Solo back on the ground, but he quickly falls to his knees, Laplace was able to catch him, and lowers his companion down. Solo is coughing, and he is breathing again. Just like that, the pain is all gone, he feels better, in a sense that his stomach no longer hurts, but, looking into the pot, he feels scared to know that whatever that stuff is, it was inside him. Laplace reaches around and wipes to remaining black stuff off Solo's lips, he observes the boy carefully as he sits there, breathing heavily, looking down into the pot.

It must've been five minutes before Solo speaks, "Wh-what is…that stuff?" He asks in between breathes.

Laplace scratches his head, claiming he has never seen something of this nature before.

Solo rubs his temples in small circles, "What did she _do_ to me?" He looks closely at the substance, he can make out how thick it is, and he has a feeling that this is the drink that Fantasey gave him. "Book…" Solo was about to stand, but his legs feel weak, his whole body is weak, he is still quite shaky as well. "I…need to see."

Laplace heads into the other room, he quickly obtains the book and brings it back to his master. Solo opens the book with trembling fingers, barely able to keep a firm grip on the thing. He flips through page after page until he finds a friendship spell.

"This…must be it, but it doesn't say anything about this-this- whatever the hell this black stuff is! Look, it even has the same text in here that was on the sticky-note! It says that a friend deep within will be born! Did I do something wrong?"

"Actually, quite the opposite."

Solo's blood runs cold upon hearing another voice, a low voice with a bit of a reverb to it. He was almost too scared to move, but he ended up glancing down into the pot, he nearly gasps when he sees the stuff he had previously hacked up was now in the shape of two eyes and a mouth, and the mouth was knit up in a smile.

"Who-who said that? You?" Solo asks, his voice shaking.

The black substance grins widely and chuckles, "Right you are."

Solo stares in disbelief, he opens his mouth to say something but no words came out.

"What's wrong, Solo? Cat got your tongue?" the black sludge suddenly jumps up in the air, a humanoid figure is then formed. "I know you secretly have a thing for cats, so I am not surprised."

The figure now looks more like a shadow than a creature of sludge. It has the head and body of a human, saved for its lower half, which is thinned out and shaped into a long tail, its arms are long, its fingers like talons. Its eyes are a bright orange, it's mouth is in a large, open smile, revealing the inside to be the same bright orange.

Laplace takes action, he flies before the creature, asking what the heck it is, and who it even is. Solo continues to stare in disbelief and shock.

The shadowy figure motions its hand towards its body, "Why, I am Solo's new friend! Need I say more?"

Laplace wasn't buying it, he threatens to hurt the creature if it dared to touch Solo, however, the "friend" merely laughs.

" _You_ touch _me_? Please, Laplace, you're making me laugh!" The new guest cocked his head back and began to laugh loudly. At this point, Solo was able to find his voice again.

"Do you have a name?" the Murian asks.

"Eugor, pleased to meet you, my new friend," Eugor grins widely, his eyes forming into smaller slits as he reaches a hand out. To Solo, Eugor looks more malicious in such a position. Solo slowly takes Eugor's hand, it feels cold and a bit damp. Eugor wraps his hand right around Solo's and begins to shake it up and down.

"I am quite pleased to finally meet you!" Eugor says as he shakes Solo's hand, his eyes closed and smile a more friendly one. Once Solo pulls away, Eugor looks to Laplace, "You too, you useless thing you."

"Hey," Solo begins. "Laplace isn't useless, watch what you say." Laplace happily throws his hands together upon hearing those words, Master really does care for him!

Eugor sighs, "Oh now you say that," he mumbles. "Say, what do you say we go and maybe fetch you some grub, 'ey, kiddo?"

Solo feels small rumbles in his stomach, "Alright, guess so…"

"I have the perfect idea," Eugor claims.

"What's that?" Solo asks.

"We head into town and treat you to a nice and rather large breakfast!"

"I really don't want to eat more than necessary, I eat only to sustain myself, not to gorge myself."

Eugor wraps an arm around Solo's side, leaning in toward the Murian, "Oh don't speak like that, you know deep down you want to try different foods, let's not forget that cute waitress at that once place."

Solo blushes, "How do you-?"

Eugor crosses his arms, "I come from deep within, I know all about you."

Solo looks away, then back at Eugor, "Okay, maybe I can treat myself today, besides, I deserve it, don't I?"

Eugor tosses his fist in the air, "That's the way! What do you say to those chocolate chip pancakes? You heard so many good things about them, remember that small sample you had once?"

"Yeah, it was good."

"Let's go and live a little, kiddo."

"Alright," Solo turns and begins to head out, Eugor and Laplace follow. On their way out, Eugor turns around and grins maliciously at Laplace. The Wizard stops for a moment, he already doesn't like this guy, he just oozes bad vibes in every way.

* * *

Solo grins sharply as he sees people stare at him. He's used to the looks, but today he feels almost glad they're looking at him. He's the one sitting before a large stack of chocolate chip pancakes after all! A small child, probably around four or so, is full on staring at Solo, however, his mother is quick to pull the child's gaze away.

Eugor had shrunken himself down earlier, he rests in the air above Solo's shoulder, not bothering to hide himself in any way. "You know what, kid? They're all impressed. All those parents, just imagine it, they're stuck with their whiny brats, forced to take care of them, struggling to pay bills. But look at you, kid, you're sitting proudly alone, able to afford anything you want."

The waiter comes back, refilling Solo's glass with his soda, another thing he always forbid himself to have, up until today anyway.

"Ah," Eugor's voice is low and confident. "Look, kid, it's the cute waitress."

Solo looks over toward his left and watches as a petite teen begins to lower a tray of food at a family's table. Solo notes her hair being pulled back today, usually her hair was let loose, its long, brown strands flowing as she walked. With her hair pulled back though, he can focus more clearly on her backside.

"Her skirt sure is little," Eugor points out.

Solo looks away, sure he can look but he tries not to. He was never the type who allowed himself to indulge in the sight of women. He can allow himself to eat and drink as much as he wants, but staring at a female is a whole new level of no for him.

"Oh come now," Eugor coos.

Laplace, from inside Solo's Hunter-VG, is quick to remind Solo that he's better than that, which the Murian agrees. Eugor is, however, persistent.

"It doesn't hurt to just look, kid. You know deep down you're curious. You don't have to know what's underneath her clothes, but it doesn't hurt to imagine."

Truth is, Solo doesn't exactly know what's underneath her clothing, or any woman for that matter. He finds himself curious, but not so much in a perverted way, he can't think of any time when he's ever looked at a girl like that, or anyone for that matter. He knows males and females are physically different, more so at a certain age, but he isn't exactly sure of all of it.

"You should ask her out," Eugor suggests.

Solo is quick to respond, keeping his voice low. "Are you crazy?"

Laplace speaks up, telling Solo that she's a bit old for him, Eugor feels fury and snaps. "Quiet, Wizard. Let the boy think for himself!"

Solo glances back over, the waitress is gone. "I said no, Eugor."

Eugor is silent as Solo focuses more on his pancakes. The black figure glances all around, his arms crossed in frustration. Suddenly he grins.

"Hey kid. You know what I just noticed? There's an arcade machine over there. You like video games, why not go and give it a try when you're done?"

Solo feels a little intrigued, but he also feels embarrassed, "I don't like doing things before others."

"There's a kid there now, he's playing the game, looks like he's been there a while, wouldn't it be neat if you were to beat his score?"

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Showing him up could be quite amusing."

Eugor cheers, "That's the spirit! I know you can get the high score! Everyone will know just how amazing the last of the Murians truly is!"

Solo smiles, he feels rather sheepish, a feeling he isn't sure he's ever felt before. Something about Eugor complimenting him made him feel good.

He isn't able to finish all the pancakes, but he gets them boxed up to take home later. He decides to head over to the arcade machine and wait in a small line, before him being two boys, one is playing the game, the other watching, cussing as his friend was losing.

"Man, you fucking suck," the other boy says as his friend loses.

"Shut the hell up," the other says as he lets go of the control stick, his finger leaving the button.

"Hey, there's some albino freak behind you, why don't we move and let his ass play?"

The two boys move as Solo pays for the game, they watch closely as the game begins.

Solo is quick to shoot his way past the first level, not getting damaged once. It's a simple game; shoot the enemy but don't get shot yourself, get hit three times you lose a life, lose three lives and it's game over. The two boys crowd around Solo, one on each side, they watch intently as Solo defeats each level, not taking a single hit until level 5, where he gets hit once.

"Yo you're fucking good," the second kid, who earlier was watching his friend play, says.

"Yeah," the other kid agrees.

Solo doesn't say a word, he continues on to the next level, and the next, and the next. The boys stay, and they even begin to cheer Solo on, soon, a small crowd of younger kids join in, all watching Solo as he blasts his way through the game.

It wasn't long until he hits level 40, at this point, a good ten or so kids were around, all watching closely. Solo begins to feel some pressure, as he got hit twice already. Eugor gets close to Solo's ear, in a low yet encouraging voice, he says: "Keep going, kid, I'm proud of you."

Level 41.

"This guy is good," a kid who just arrived says.

"Hey Mister, what's your secret?" another kid asks.

"Forget his secret I want to know his name!"

"Will you teach me how to be that good?"

"Is he gonna beat the high score?"

A girl, no older than Solo, then walks up beside him and blushes, "Um, you're kind of cute."

Solo suddenly feels his mind do some sort of strange jump. Did someone just call him _cute_?

A big GAME OVER flashes on the screen, Solo had gotten distracted. He feels a little embarrassed, but quickly feels an ego rush when he types in his name and realizes he has the high score.

He grins, and he turns around, but he finds himself feel startled when he sees a familiar face before him.

"That was amazing, Solo," Geo Stelar grins. The kids all around agree, and the crowd dissipates.

Solo narrows his eyes, "Geo Stelar…"

"I'd never thought I'd see you here!" Geo says, a smile on his face. Solo honestly wanted to punch the boy. "Glad to see you're making friends though!"

Solo growls and shoves his way past Geo, heading for his table to finish his drink, pick up his boxes, and leave. Geo doesn't follow, which Solo thanked, he half expected him to, although he isn't sure why he would've done that. Geo isn't his friend, he's his rival, sometimes even his enemy.

As Solo leaves Eugor speaks back up, "That kid pisses me off."

"Same," Solo agrees.

"Perhaps we should schedule a day in which we find him and perhaps harm him?"

"Indeed, we shall."

Eugor grins wickedly. Laplace feels his chest tighten.

* * *

Solo sits at the couch, he sighs sadly. Laplace places a comforting hand on his shoulder, asking what the Murian what's wrong.

"I don't exactly know," Solo claims. "I just feel very depressed."

The Wizard thinks for a moment, but nothing comes to mind. He watches as Master crosses his arms and leans back into the couch, he has a look of pure sadness on his face.

"I can't be happy anymore," he follows up saying.

"I am back," Eugor phases through a wall, a big smile on his face. "Sorry I left kid, I wanted to check some things out, seems that MegaMan is staying at his house today." He then notices the look of depression on Solo's face, "Hey, kid, what's the matter?"

Solo sighs, "Eugor, why am I so depressed?"

"Ah, so you finally admit that you have a problem. Ever since you were little you've been this way."

Solo raises a brow, "You noted it rather than asked."

"I told you before, kid. I came from inside you, I know all about you, I represent what you are like deep inside, I am essentially you, I know your true potential. So of course I would know about your ongoing depression."

"So, what do I do about it?" Solo asks, looking at his new friend, hoping he would help out in some way.

"Well," the black figure says. "I think I may know a way to help alleviate the pain."

"How?" Solo asks, feeling a tad hopeful, but then he sees Eugor grin, almost a knowing grin.

"Kid, come with me to the kitchen."

Laplace feels alarmed, he follows his master and the three head into the small kitchen area. Eugor digs into a small drawer and pulls out a hunting knife. Laplace is quick to smack Eugor's hand, knowing full well what he has in mind.

"I'm only trying to help!" Eugor shouts at Laplace, his voice drips with anger and frustration.

Laplace retorts, stating that Solo shouldn't be harming himself, and that Eugor is a bad friend for so much as suggesting that.

While the two fight, Solo reaches down and picks up the knife, he looks up and sees Eugor and Laplace getting into a physical fight. Eugor tries to wrap his fingers around Laplace's neck, meanwhile, Laplace attempts to claw at Eugor's eyes. Solo shakes his head and feels his heart ache and his frown becoming a tightly-nit grit. His teeth hurt and he shuts his eyes, those two really aren't helping at all.

Laplace spies on Solo as Eugor is down, he can see the pure anguish on his master's face, he shouts his name, and begs him to not hurt himself. Eugor, at this point, manages to edge his way out from under Laplace, pinning the Wizard against the wall angrily, hissing at him that _he's_ the bad friend.

Solo stares at the knife, ignoring the arguing, his eyes burn as he holds back tears. Why? Why do bad things always happen to him? All he wants is to live a normal life, whatever normal may be, he doesn't even know anymore. He looks at the knife, what was Eugor implying? Harming himself? Laplace had said that. Is that supposed to make him feel better? Honestly at this point Solo is desperate to feel happy again, or at the least not feel so upset. He lifts up his hand and stares at his index finger. He brings up the knife and places the cold edge against his finger, he hears Laplace beg him not to, Eugor's kind voice tells him to do it, that he'll feel better afterwards. Solo breathes a little faster, feeling rather anxious, he slices his finger quickly, a small cut forming across the finger towards the top. He continues starring at the cut as Eugor and Laplace are both at his side.

"You need to make a larger cut," Eugor claims. Laplace retorts, and offers to get Solo something to put around the cut. This causes Eugor to argue, stating that Solo is perfectly fine. Laplace claims that bleeding one's sorrows away never helps. Eugor mocks Laplace, and then proceeds to remind him that he's from inside Solo, so of course he knows what's best for him.

The bickering is interrupted as Solo chuckles. The two stare at the Murian as he bursts out into a full-on laugh. "You two look so confused!" Solo points at the Eugor and Laplace. "I actually do feel a lot better now! Look, my finger is bleeding Murian blood! It's a good feeling."

"Yeah!" Eugor throws his fist into the air. "That's right, kid, you feel the happiness."

"Oh it isn't happiness I feel!" Solo claims, his voice rather loud. "I can't explain what it is, but I'm no longer upset!" He tosses the knife onto his small table, "I can tell you guys one thing though!"

They wait for a response, Solo's smiling in a way that freaks them both out. He looks almost eager, or possibly crazed, it isn't a happy smile that's for sure. Laplace finds his way to speak, his wavelength connecting with Solo's and Eugor's as his words register, he asks Solo a simple: "What is it?"

Solo turns around and begins to head toward to door, "Right now, all I want to do is kill that MegaMan! Whether or not he's prepared!"

Eugor throws his fist in the air yet again, "All right, kid! Let's go get 'em!"

Laplace is left speechless.

 **A/N: Laplace uses waves to communicate I think. He projects them, he can easily speak with Solo in a crowd and only Solo will hear it, as he can choose who he projects his speech to. That's my theory, and it's the theory I'm using for this thing.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I kinda feel bad for writing this. This chapter contains slight torture and blood, don't like, leave, or skip it, doesn't matter. I really like Luna Platz too, so don't think I hate her! Some of you may know that Solo x Luna is even my OTP.**

His heart is racing, it is genuinely racing, he cannot contain his excitement. A smile sprawls onto his face, and he enters Echo Ridge as Rogue.

Eugor also grins madly, he looks down at the Murian and speaks in a hushed voice, "So, what's the plan?"

Rogue narrows his eyebrows once he spots a house, "That right there, that is his house, I'm going to make him pay."

Laplace grabs at Rogue's arm, this isn't like Master, Master is not the one for taking cheap shots. He voices his opinion, going on about how the Mu had their respect, and how unsatisfied he would be if he killed Geo in his sleep.

At this, the Murian snaps, "Will you shut up?! I know what I am doing!" He growls in frustration, "Besides, I'm not going to kill him, I'm going to force him to fight me, and tonight is the night I rip the Mu Metal out of him once and for all!"

Eugor frowns, "If I may make a suggestion, my dear friend, I think you're going about this the wrong way?"

Rogue turns his attention to his shady companion, "Oh? Alright, amuse me, what do you have in mind?"

The grin returns, "Geo has done more to you than simply just stole your Metal, he's humiliated you, he's gotten in your way, he's stopped your plans, and let's not forget the time he attempted to use Rogue Noise."

Rogue thinks back, "Ah, yes, he claimed he had issues finding Brothers, or something like that. You do have a good point, Eugor. But what is your point in reminding me all this?"

"Oh, I am suggesting that we leave him alone tonight." Rogue's interest piques, and he watches his friend closely as he continues, "Instead, why don't we try something different. I was thinking of more along the lines of making his friends pay first."

"His friends? Well that one husky one did insult Mu once with his antics…"

"Exactly. They are just as guilty at hurting you as that pathetic MegaMan is!"

"So, you think I should harm his friends?"

"Yes, it'll be like killing two birds with one stone. You hurt a friend of his, you also hurt Geo in the process."

Rogue blinks, "You're right," he pauses a brief moment to think. "I just got an idea actually."

"And what would that be?"

Rogue's grin returns full-force, "Oh, you'll see." The EM-Wave Changed boy begins to run in another direction, his movement fast. It takes a mere few seconds for him to reach another house, more specifically, a mansion. He knows where all of Geo's friends live, and he honestly takes pride in knowing such information.

Eugor and Laplace had caught up just as Rogue phases through a wall, landing himself inside of the large interior of the mansion. The place itself looks even larger on the inside than the outside, the floors appear as if they were just recently polished. Rogue, however, cared not for sight-seeing, instead, he heads for the stairs and begins to make his way up them. His two companions follow closely behind. A large hallways then sits before the three, and Rogue wastes little time in phasing through each door, attempting to find his target. It takes many tries, but finally, he manages to find a more girly room with a large bed, a female rests in the bed, sleeping softly with a mask over her eyes.

Rogue stands beside the bed and grins, she's before him ,completely unaware of her soon-to-be-doom. But he asks himself, now what? How is he going to get her out of here quietly? He looks at the other two who followed him, they both just stare back. Rogue then looks back down at the platinum blonde, he grabs at her blanket and slowly begins to pull it down. The girl's grip was loose, so pulling it down all the way was quite easy. Rogue then slowly makes his way on top of the bed, looming over her, he stares down at her, his eyes glued to her sleeping mask. He takes a deep breath, and grabs one of the pillows besides her, he suddenly presses down, which causes her to wake up and begin to struggle.

Laplace feels shocked, Eugor silently cheers as Rogue pushes down on the pillow harder and harder, suffocating her. Her struggles are pointless, Rogue is much stronger than her, especially in this form. He then turns to the other two and asks for help. Eugor flies over and Rogue removes the pillow, just as the two are about lift her up and run off with her, Vogue emerges from Luna's Hunter-VG. The female Wizard gasps and attempts to yell, however, Eugor and Laplace jump her, and the two begin to hit at her, meanwhile Rogue has one hand over Luna's mouth, the other around her waist. He begins to drag her towards the window. Luna's struggle continues, and Rogue took the hand around her waist and uses it to punch her in the stomach, causing her to gag a little in his hand. Rogue looks up at Eugor and Laplace, who both seemed to have knocked Vogue out cold, he grins and the two open the window. Rogue gives Luna to Eugor, who now holds onto her, his one hand over her mouth, the other under her bottom, supporting her so she is off the floor.

"Let's go," Rogue instructs, he hops out the window, and the three run off.

* * *

Luna thrashes, she has no idea where she is, but she knows she's tied to a table of some sort. Ropes are around her body, keeping her down rather firmly. She is panicking, and her mouth is covered by some sort of cloth.

"Perhaps we should remove your mask," a voice Luna recognizes says.

Luna whimpers and feels something sharp against her head, she feels the mask snap and her eyes are greeted with three figures, the one in the middle she recognizes. Her eyes widen.

Rogue smiles, "Ah, so you recognize me, I'm the one who tried to harm you a while back. Do you remember my name?" Luna keeps starring, her expression not changing. Rogue rolls his eyes, "My name is Rogue, however, in human form I am called Solo."

Luna reacts by squirming under the ropes, her muffled screams go unnoticed by anyone save for the three in the room. Eugor speaks then, "So, now you have her, what do you wish to do with her?"

Rogue takes a moment to think, he gets closer and stands right beside the table, looking down at her he speaks, "I have no idea, honestly."

"You should hurt her."

Luna's eyes widen even further, Rogue looks confused, "Oh? How should I hurt her?"

"I'm glad you asked, you can start by cutting her slowly."

Laplace chooses now to speak, he goes on and on how this is not a good idea, Rogue looks back between Laplace, Eugor, and Luna. He shakes his head, "I'm not going to cut her, I don't think even hurting her is a good idea right now."

Eugor was about to sigh, instead, he merely nods, "Alright, keeping her here for a little bit would be enough to do damage I suppose."

Rogue nods and focuses, in a mere second, he turns back into his human form. Solo glances down at Luna, "I'm going to head to bed for the night, I'll figure out what to do with her tomorrow."

Eugor and Laplace follow Solo as he heads into his room. "Solo, my fear friend," Eugor begins. "Perhaps tomorrow, if I may suggest, you take a stroll into town, maybe piss that MegaMan off."

"Can and will do," Solo grins once again, feeling rather confident in his new revenge plan. He may not know what he will do to the girl in his kitchen now, but come tomorrow he's confident he'll have a better idea on just how to exactly handle this.

* * *

'Today, I feel a little bit better.'

Solo sits up and rubs his eyes. He looks forward and sees Laplace already up, looking at himself in the mirror, "Laplace?" Solo stretches, "I feel pretty good about today."

Laplace floats over and snuggles Solo, in response, the Murian backs off, asking for personal space. Laplace goes on saying that Eugor has left, and Luna is still tied to the kitchen table, apparently she is asleep.

Solo removes his blanket and stands up, he walks out into the living room and is suddenly hit with a wave of deep sorrow, causing him to frown. He captured one of Geo's friends, and yet, he still feels depressed. He heads into the kitchen-area and sees the girl, indeed she did find a way to fall asleep. Solo remembers back to last night, Eugor had suggested that he cut her, the idea sounded rather sadistic to him, he honestly had no intentions of actually bringing harm upon her in such a manner. Somehow it just sounded…wrong. Slowly torturing people isn't a thing Solo is able to see himself doing, and yet…it also sounds kind of amusing.

"Ugh, do I want to or do I not want to?"

"I'm back," Eugor suddenly appears, he appears rather happy, and he gets even happier upon seeing Solo. "Ah, I'm glad to see you awake! They're already looking for the girl."

Solo sighs, "I am still unsure of what to do to her…"

"Take all the time in the world kiddo! Well, actually, she may die soon if you neglect her. You humans need your water and such."

"Yeah, you're right. Should I kill her? I mean, I was originally just going to kill her and deliver the head to Geo Stelar."

"You only want to do that?"

"Well, it is a heinous act on its own, is it not?"

"Do you know what she did to you? She is one of his best _friends_ , she's part of the reason you cannot beat him! She fuels his power, she needs to suffer, Solo!"

Solo crosses his arms and looks off to the side, "I know, but…slowly killing her just seems a little-"

"Are you sure you feel that way? Look deep inside. You hate her as much as Geo. Make her pay, make her suffer, make them all suffer! Once they're all gone, you can defeat Geo, and you can get back what is rightfully yours."

Laplace decides to speak, he yells, stating how it is basically cheating if Solo does this. He goes on to explain that Solo needs to prove he can beat Geo if the two are at their fullest strength, he tries to continue, but Eugor is quick to retort.

"I'm sorry, Laplace, did you just say that Solo is _cheating_. Do you think this is a game?!"

Solo turns his back to the two as they continue to argue. He walks over to a counter and opens up a drawer, he pulls out a small knife and turns back around. The two stopped their arguing and watch Solo carefully. "I hope you know that you two are only making everything worse for me," with those words said, the Murian takes the blade and walks over to Luna. He places the cold steel at her cheek and squints carefully. Laplace begs Solo not to do it, Eugor cheers him on. Solo sighs softly and begins to slide the knife down the girl's cheek, a small cut if formed, and she is awoken.

Upon seeing the sight before her, Luna begins to yell into her cloth, she moves around a lot, squirming and pleading. Solo grits his teeth angrily, and brings his fist down into her face, smashing her nose. She cries louder, tears pour out of her eyes. Solo only grins, he watches as the blood from her nose slowly seeps down her face, the small cut on her cheek doing the same. He reaches a hand forward and slides his finger across the skin below her nose, getting as much blood on his finger as he can.

"Something about this feels good," he claims. "But…I also feel unsatisfied, she wasn't even given a proper chance."

"Oh?" Eugor asks, settling himself beside Solo in the air. "What do you wish to do?"

"I think, if I'm going to hurt her, I should at least make it more fair."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Heh, I'll win in the end, this girl probably has no fighting experience at all, but, this will be interesting. Alright, girl, I'll give you one chance to escape."

Luna's eyes widen as Solo continues, "I'm going to release you, I'll even give you a weapon of your choice, if you can escape my place, you are free to go. If, however, you cannot escape, well, I'm going to hurt you some more. How does that sound?"

Luna feels her restraints begin to lift up, first things first, she starts shouting, very loudly in fact. This angers Solo, so much so, that he ends up bringing a fist down into her nose. She flies backward off the stump of a table, and lands awkwardly onto the floor, her legs up on the stump, but her head is leaning, neck craned, so her upper half is over the table.

"No one can hear you! So shut the hell up! Scream again and you'll get no chance at all of escape! You either play by these fair rules, or, you can play by my unfair rules. The choice is yours."

Luna slides her back onto the floor, now with her feet up in the air, legs against the table. She is too nervous to move, she just weeps, her hands covering her eyes. Solo angrily sighs and walks around the table.

"Look, bitch, you need to stand up, right now."

Slowly, Luna finds her way up to her feet, once up, she stares at the other before her, and in a shaky voice, asks, "W-what do you want me…" but she trails off as she begins to sob more. "MegaMan, where are…"

"Here, I'll give you a knife," Solo reaches into his drawer and pulls out a hunting knife. "I've used this to kill several animals, it's very nice, you can use this against me."

Laplace flies beside Solo, warning him of the huge, possible danger that this is, but Solo only smiles to Laplace's words, and Luna takes the knife. Solo then backs away from Luna, he has nothing in his hands. Laplace continues his pleads, Eugor even seems a little on edge with the idea, but Solo seems to be more than happy with this idea.

"Come at me," he challenges before rushing at Luna.

Luna holds up the knife, her eyes closed, head looking the other way. Solo grabs her arms and holds them down, she tries to move, backing away. Solo ended up getting the weapon out of her grasp, and he sighs angrily again. "You're not even trying, stop being such a baby!"

"I…"

"You what? Everyone has a fight instinct in them. So fucking bring it out!"

Luna begins to cry again, "MegaMan…help!"

Solo reaches over and grabs Luna by the shoulders, "Listen here, your precious MegaMan has no idea where you are at. If you ever wish to see him again, then I suggest you wise the hell up and at least try."

"I…" her eyes are open, but she looks away. Solo grabs Luna's face, pinching her cheeks and forces him to lock eyes with him, just as he was about to speak, Luna makes a quick action, and knees Solo right in the crotch, causing him to fall over. Her next action after that is to find an exit, she runs into the living room and sees a small door. She ruses at it, but is quickly greeted with a shady figure with an orange smile.

"And where do you think you're going?" Eugor asks.

Luna backs off in fear, she bumps into the living room counter and nearly falls back, but instead, she merely sits upon the table. "What…what are you?"

At this point, Solo is already back up, he walks into the living room and stares Luna down, "So, you wanted to play dirty huh? Well two can play at that game!" He is quickly next to her and holds her down, she can see the knife in his hand and she screams and cries. Solo uses one hand to hold her down by her neck, getting close to her between her legs. Eugor floats beside Solo.

"So, kiddo," he begins as the two struggle. "Wish for my help?"

Solo ignores Luna, he tries joking her with the one hand, the other has the blade begin to cut at her chest, tearing her clothes and causing them to stain with blood. Eugor shrugs to himself and gets on the other side near Luna's head, he grabs her arms and hold them out on either side, leaving her completely vulnerable. Staring up at him, Luna gathers what she can, and spits in Solo's face. Much to her surprise, he seems barely phased by this, but it does give her a good idea.

"You've been awfully loud ever since I took off that gag, perhaps I should cut out your tongue."

The sentence causes Luna to start pleading, "Please…" she tries to keep her cool. "Please, if you let me go…I won't tell anyone. Just please! I have zenny, I will give you anything! Just please let me go."

"No," and he uses his hands to force her mouth open. She tries to bite down, she tries to move, but she finds it hard to do either of these things. Solo reaches a hand into her mouth, trying his best to grab at her tongue while keeping it open. It's very difficult, but he does get a bit of a grip, and begins to pull her tongue upward. She cries hard, she tries to plead, but Solo doesn't care.

He brings the knife over and stabs her tongue lightly, causing a bit of blood to seep downward. Luna tries to retract her tongue, but Solo shoves his hand in deeper, causing her mouth to stretch. He manages to get the blade back up against the slimy muscle, and be begins to cut deeply into it. Luna is shouting in pain, the blood drips down into her throat, causing her to gag and choke. The knife is removed and he tries to rip the rest of it off. Slowly, the muscle rips, and Solo now holds the tip of Luna's tongue.

Right away then, Luna begins to vomit, Solo moves out of the way, but Eugor still holds her down by her arms, grinning like a madman. She ends up swallowing most of what she chucked up at first, but once Solo moved away, she lifts her head up and gets it on her chest, then it slides onto the floor.

"You've got to be kidding me," the Murian rolls his eyes. "That's gross, Eugor, you're cleaning that up then."

"Tch, why me?"

"I don't see you paying rent…"

"True, alright. Now what do you wish to do with her?"

Solo thinks, meanwhile, Luna is hacking up more mixed contents. "Maybe it's time I end it."

"Good idea, before she hacks up anything else."

"Well, you were fun, what's your name?"

Luna just sobs, her body shaking harshly with each breath she draws in.

"Be that way," Solo gets back between her legs and takes his knife, brings it up in the air, but stops. "Actually, I kind of want to try it again."

"Try what again, kiddo?"

"Fighting her. Maybe now she'll be more of a challenge."

"No, kiddo, just end it, we can do that with Geo then."

"I want it now, Eugor. Let her go," Solo places the hunting knife at the table besides Luna, and he backs off. Eugor also backs off, and Luna sits up. Solo suddenly sees it, her eyes, they are narrowed, she is pissed. He only grins as she grabs the knife.

"Don't you dare HARM MY MEGAMAN!" She stands up and runs at him. She attempts to do a quick stab but Solo moves off to the side. He hits her at the back of the neck, and she falls to her knees. She doesn't move then, and Solo seems disappointed.

"Again you quit?" He gets down on the floor beside her, feeling the huge adrenaline rush leave his body. He notices her shaking with sobs again, he takes the chance, and pounces on her, however, in the midst of him trying to get her down, she brings up the knife.

Solo now stands on his hands and knees over Luna, beneath, the knife is raised up, and Solo stares down, blood seeps onto Luna's face below. She got him…

And now his eye is bleeding.

Everyone freezes, for a few seconds it's as if time stopped, the air is thick, and suddenly, Solo jumps up, his hand goes to his eye, the knife is still in place. He runs into his room and stares into the mirror. Laplace is quick then, now at Solo's side.

"Laplace…what do…" he feels his body shake, and notices more blood pouring down, and then the pain hits, and he's onto the floor. He tries to hold back any sobs, but he feels immense pain in the left side of his head around the whole eye area. "Laplace, WHAT DO I DO?!"

Luna takes the time to finally hull herself up, but she finds herself in a choke hold then, Eugor decides to finish her off, killing her through suffocation, and then snapping her neck. He then also is at Solo's side, the boy is now heaving with sobs of pain, staring into the mirror.

"Guys, what do I do?! I can't pull it out! I don't know what to do!"

"Kiddo, hang on," Eugor rushes into the kitchen area and comes back with a small cloth. "Listen to me, you have to pull it out."

"Are you mad?! It'll bleed out and I'll die!"

"Get this cloth on it and press."

"T-that won't work!"

"It will, you need to press _hard_."

Solo returns his gaze to the mirror, "I'm…oh no. Why did I do that? That was so stupid!" He has the cloth in hand, and he continues to stare, "It's leaking so much…what is all that clear stuff? Oh gods why…"

"Solo, listen to me, you need to get that thing out of your eye."

"I'm going to lose my eye though!"

"Slowly, I will help, the eye can be saved if you-"

"It won't be!"

"Solo, _listen_!"

Solo sniffs, "I…ok…" he reaches up at the knife, gripping it by the hilt. He huffs, but his arm doesn't work. He shakes harder and bites down, accidentally biting onto his tongue, causing him to yelp and jump. He cries harder in response, "I can't do it!"

Eugor then puts a hand on Solo's shoulder, "Allow me then."

"No…don't."

"It needs to come out."

"Yeah but…"

Eugor grabs the hilt, "Ready?"

Solo bites his lip and stares into the mirror, feeling humiliated and stressed out. Slowly, Eugor begins to slide the knife out, and Solo howls in pain, feeling as if his eye was actually coming out.

"Stop! It's coming out! I SAID STOP IT!"

Eugor doesn't stop, slowly, it is removed, and surprisingly enough, Solo's eye stays where it is at. Eugor himself is surprised, since the knife is rather big and thick, but he thrusts his surprise away and is quick and forcing the cloth to the injured eye. "Hold it there."

Solo keeps the cloth there, looking down at the floor while crying to himself. Eugor floats off and puts the knife away, he notices Luna's body, but decides to ask about that later. Solo stays in place, he doesn't even move for a good five minutes, every now and then he would move the cloth slightly, feeling the leaking slow down, but upon removing it completely, he noticed that he could not see a thing through his left eye, this only upsets him further, and he spends the next hour on his knees before the mirror, crying to himself.

Laplace attempts to comfort him, but Solo only snaps. Eventually, the Wizard ends up floating away, staying in a corner, just watching his master. Eugor decides to take a turn, floating up next to Solo, whispering encouraging words to the boy. Laplace feels pure rage, this whole thing had started because Eugor wanted to make Geo pay, now Master is hurt, and possibly forever blind in one eye. He watches closely and feels envy as Master accepts a hug from Eugor, something that he would never accept from anyone else…

Laplace had it, he phases through the wall, he isn't sure where he is going, all he knows is that he needs space. It's not like Master would know if he was gone anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

The morning is cold, another freezing day, and yet, Solo finds it a perfect day to sit outside to drink some tea. He sits in his cave behind the rock formation, a clay cup full of warm tea in his hand, around his head he wears something that resembles an eye patch over his left eye, it's made out of a silk cloth, squared to cover the injury. Sleep last night was very hard to obtain, luckily for him, Eugor was there to comfort him, he sang to him, he pet him gently, he even massaged him. Overall, the night did get better.

As for that girl's body, well, Solo tossed it onto the table for now, he's still unsure what to do with it, though he's thinking of cutting it up then at the very least. It'll start to rot soon, and he knows from past experience that rotting bodies smell terrible.

And as he figured out today, apparently they defecate as well. But he's trying to forget that.

"So, what's the plan today?" Eugor asks.

Solo removes the cup and gazes deeply into the fire, "I don't want to do anything."

"Eh? You don't? Or do you just not have anything planned?"

"Hm…well, I am thinking of other ways of making Geo pay."

"But still no plans?"

He takes another sip, "Not yet…"

"I see, well, in any case, I think I know what we should do with the body in there."

"Oh? Amuse me."

"Heh, gladly, friend," Eugor floats on the other side of the fire. "So, for starters, we need to cook her out here, but it's going to require you to work harder than the usual bunny or fish."

"I imagine so, since she is bigger. But I've killed deer before mind you. I think I can handle some petite human."

"That's my boy. When she's all nice and cooked perhaps you can invite someone over? Maybe give the meat to them?"

"You mean one of Geo's friends."

"Exactly. I'm thinking the husky one, you know, the one who thought he was a Mu god."

"Right, _him_. Alright. Guess I'll try to convince him that I want some peace. So I'll invite him for dinner, and then I'll let him have it."

"That's it, kiddo! You really need to make sure this one suffers!"

Solo smirks, "Heh, of course, I'll cook her tonight, tomorrow, I'll begin working on my next prey…"

Eugor blinks then, "You know, kid…"

Solo feels slightly on edge with his friend's sudden concerning voice, "What?"

"You are going to have to clean that eye."

Solo feels his back tingle a little, and his chest tightens and turns cold, "I haven't even looked at it since last night. I'm almost afraid to. It still hurts, but it's not the same throbbing pain it was last night."

Eugor's voice sounds calm and soothing, "It'll be alright, but you know that it can get infected, and I'm sure you don't want to visit one of those hospitals."

The fire begins to die, and Solo resists the urge to sigh, "You're right. I'd rather die than have to face the guilt that is relying on someone else. I guess I should do that first thing then."

Solo stands up then, putting out the fire and grabbing his kettle set and begins to head back inside. Eugor follows suit, but stops the moment Solo stops. "Kid," the shadowy figure asks. "What is the matter?"

Solo turns back to face his friend, "What happened to Laplace?"

Eugor's shadowy claw was places at his chin, he looks into the air briefly, a small "Hmm" escaping his lips before shrugging. Solo decides to end it there and heads back inside, he honestly wasn't too concerned with Laplace. Once inside, Solo heads over to his mirror, Eugor beside him. Slowly, the Murian lifts up the eye patch, and he nearly feels sick just looking at it.

His eye is bloodshot, especially toward the middle, the outer area that was once white only has a bit of red. His iris and pupil are missing, a large hole is in place, luckily since the knife wasn't lodged in too deeply, the eye itself isn't damaged much past that. It's obvious that this will take forever to heal, and he may never be able to see with it again. He removes the eye patch and looks closely at the hole. There appears to be nothing more inside it, all the liquid was drained out, but is disturbs him to no end that he can see the eye's inner walls, he's just glad the eye is still in place and that the optic nerve isn't visible.

"It's starting to feel itchy," he claims.

Eugor places a hand on Solo's shoulder, "Seems like the cornea is in rough shape, that's why all that clear liquid came out, it's been damaged."

Solo backs away, "I'm afraid to touch it."

"You don't have to touch it."

"With water I do."

"Oh, yeah I can see why that's a problem. Here, let's go get some of that water you have stored and put it on the eye. I'll help you."

"Alright," Solo heads out of the small room and heads over to his large water tank, which rests against a wall. He picks up a bowl beside it and fills that with water. He takes a seat at his tree stump of a table and cups his hands into the water. With a sudden, and fearful, movement, he splashes the water into his eye, which causes it to sting, harshly.

Eugor floats beside him, "Kiddo, I say get a few more splashes in and it's good."

"It really hurts," Solo continues on, splashing more water into his eye. A good extra three splashes and his eye is throbbing like mad again. He gets his cloth and wraps it back around his head again. "Now to take care of that body," he glances at his living room table where Luna's deceased body rests.

"You going to start that now?"

Solo blinks, just blinking kills his eye. "I might have to, I should probably cut her up first, alright, let's take her outside and do the deed."

* * *

It's late, Solo is still outside, gazing deeply into the fire. "Eugor?"

The shadowy figure, who was further outside the cave, gazing up into the night sky, looks back at his friend. "What is it, kiddo?"

"I'm feeling really down again."

Eugor floats to Solo's side, "Thinking of your parents again?"

"They died in vain…"

"You didn't know, Solo. You only wanted to help spread Mu's culture around. There's nothing wrong with that. It's who you are, and you're perfect in every way."

"I just don't know what to think anymore. If I'm so strong because I am on my own, then why do I always lose to MegaMan?"

"Good question, perhaps he gets lucky sometimes."

"On top of all that, it seems that standing alone isn't even the way to go. But my ancestors…" he sighs in frustration. "I hate him so much for making me question my own creed."

"Don't worry, soon he'll be just as broken as you."

"Is what I'm doing really honorable though?"

"I don't think what he did was honorable, taking your Mu Metal, you know that rightfully belongs to you."

"I don't think he took it on purpose."

"Doesn't matter, he has something that should be in your name."

"You're right, I can care less about honor now, he's making me question my own life as a Murian, he must have it," he grins a little. "Oh boy, when I get a hold of that Geo Stelar…"

"What are you going to do to him?"

"Not sure yet, but thinking about it excites me, quite a bit."

Eugor glances down at the cooked meat, "I think it's done."

"You can barely recognize what she once was, huh?"

"Heh, who was she?"

"Like I know," he places the arm down in the pile of the rest. "All I have left is her torso, I'm going to need more time to harvest her insides, but, I kind of want to stop for now. I'll take what I have, store it, and work on that tomorrow."

"And then you'll find that kid?"

"Yes, and I'll invite him over," Solo grabs the pieces that were once a girl and heads back inside. He wraps them all up and places them all in his fridge. He then takes a seat on his couch and sighs, and then he plops down, laying on his back. He begins to think, what is he going to do to that husky child tomorrow anyway? He knows he's going to kill him, but how should he go about doing it? He wants to do a hunting scenario, even if it did cause him an eye last time he tried to do it. But the thought of hunting him down and hurting him just excited him in every way. Solo grabs the pillow from under his head and holds it closely to his chest, squeezing it tightly as he thinks about being in a forest, his prey on the run. He would have to track him down, his prey would be desperate and try to escape, but he would find him, and he would kill him.

Solo's chest hurts a bit with how tight he's holding the pillow against him, but the thought is just so good. He releases his arms then, opening his eyes and starring up at the ceiling. His thoughts then go to Geo, more specifically, he thinks of Geo as MegaMan, crying loudly as he is torn apart, the Mu Metal in the grasp of the one who it rightfully belongs to. All the confusion, all the trouble, it will be gone once Geo is dead.

'Yes, once Geo is dead,' Solo places the pillow at his crotch and sighs audibly. 'I can live my life then, I can do what I want.' He moves the pillow a little, keeping it close against him. He's feeling really good now, he can't really describe it, but it's good both mentally and physically.

He pushes the pillow deeper into him, keeping it firmly in place, he starts to move his hips a little. Yes, hunting Geo down, cornering him, ripping him apart, it just all sounds _so_ good.

Then he suddenly hears Eugor popping back indoors, he had no idea the shadowy friend even left. His reverb voice speaks softly, "Solo, what are you doing?"

"Eugor…I'm not sure what I'm doing, it just _feels_ good."

The shadowy figure stares at Solo, "I see. Well, in case you're wondering, I saw Geo and his friends, they're really depressed and worried with their friend gone."

Solo removes the pillow and sits up, "Heh, good. Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep."

"Hm, you sure you don't wanna continue what you were doing?"

"Uh, I'm not sure what I was doing just now to be honest," he stands up and heads to his bed, tucking himself under his covers. "I have one day tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it."

Eugor floats on beside Solo, "Good night, my sweet friend."

"Night."

* * *

Oh the excitement. It's almost unbearable. He can feel the same adrenaline rush that he had the night he kidnapped that girl. It's an amazing feeling, one he's still not quite used to feeling. It makes him actually want to smile. Smiling…being something that Solo has been doing a lot recently.

From their place behind a bush, Eugor points, "There he is. Bud, I think his name is."

Solo watches closely. That's him alright. But with Bud was a smaller friend, the one that nearly during that virus attack. Solo doesn't know the name of the shorter one, and he can honestly care less.

"Bud," the smaller one begins. "You go that way, and I'll go this. If we cover more ground we may be able to find her."

"It's no use, Zack. Not even Geo can find her. And besides, we looked here yesterday."

The one known as Zack just stares at the ground, "I know…but we can't give up. Luna has to be here somewhere. Now come on, we have to do our part!"

Bud looks off to the other side, "Alright. I'll meet you back here…whenever I guess."

Solo can see it; the pure depression, the defeat. It's exactly how he's been feeling within recent months. In a way, Solo feels a small relation to the two, but that's as far as he'll put it.

Zack is walking off, Bud is alone, now's his chance.

The park air is cold, bitter even, and yet here he was once again, trying to look for his prez. She's been missing for a good two days now, and saying that he's worried would be an understatement. Geo and Sonia have been traveling far distances to look for her, meanwhile, Bud and Zack would be looking around town again and again. It's all they can really do at this point, they want to do something. Luna's a close friend of theirs after all, and they miss her.

Suddenly, he stops in his tracks as a white-haired kid appears before him. Bud squints, wait a second, this kid looks familiar.

"Afternoon," he greets.

W has he seen this person before?

"Hey, what do you want?" Bud asks.

"Well, I want to apologize."

Bud feels even more confused, and that's when he remembers. "Wait a second…"

"Ah, so you do recognize me. I'm Solo, last of the Mu, also known as Rogue in Wave Changed form."

"You're that punk who tried to harm the prez and Sonia!"

"Now wait a second, listen for a second. I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry, huh? I'm afraid it won't be that easy to forgive you."

Solo resists the urge to sigh, he wants to speed this up already. "I know things have been rough between us, but, if you give me a chance, I can help fix all this. Also, I may be able to help with the location of your friend."

His interest piques, "You know the whereabouts of prez?!"

"I may know where to begin, come with me to my place, I'll treat you to a nice lunch and we can discuss things."

Bud feels the urge to cheer, this kid may know where she's at, and he's getting a free meal out of it too! He follows Solo as he begins to lead him off.

Perfect, he's as dumb as he looks.

* * *

Solo places the plate before Bud, who thanks him with a huge grin. He himself then takes a seat at the table. Much to his dismay, it seems that Bud's priorities are straight, and he asks about the "prez" right away.

"So, you may know where she is?" He asks, his mouth full.

Solo feels rather applaud at the sight, "I may know where to begin looking, I already told you that."

"Oh, uh, sorry," he continues to dig through the meat Solo had given him.

Solo sits, feeling rather awkward and unsure what to say, well, he didn't want to say anything honestly, but Eugor said that he should at least _try_ to have a conversation, if only because it'll make him less "creepy". Solo isn't fond of such a word, if anything, he's sick of people judging him. All those people who hurt him, all those people who made fun of him…

"So," Bud was starting again. "Are you one of those Mu people or whatever?"

"Yes, I'm the last…I told you this earlier as well."

"Er, sorry, my bad."

"It's quite alright…"

"So, what kind of meat is this anyway?"

"It's bear."

Bud accepts the answer and Solo offers him more, which he gladly accepts. "So, do you know if she was kidnapped?"

"Perhaps," Solo answers, trying to avoid Bud's eyes, which were clearly resting on the cloth around his eye.

"Erm…"

"So, why are you being so nice again?"

"Oh for the love of…because I feel bad and want to apologize! I told you that _first thing_! What is with your memory?"

"Well, I'm sorry, I keep thinking about the prez is all."

Solo growls a little, "Right, well, she actually may be closer than you think."

Now it's Bud's turn to want to snap, "I thought you said you didn't know where she was at?"

And Solo's mad once again, "I said I _may_ know!"

"Where is she? What did you do to her?"

"Oh so now you're playing smart, heh, you're _eating_ her!"

Bud stops then, his eyes slowly look down at the leg that he held in his hand. He drops it and sits there for a bit, the horrible realization taking over. And then he stands up, "You monster!"

Solo smirks, "Oh and, you're next."

Bud goes to charge at Solo, but he feels a pair of hands gripping tightly at his biceps, icy cold talons dig into his muscles, and he turns to see some shadowy figure, grinning at him, his voice quiet, yet full of excitement. "You're not going anywhere." Bud jerks, but the talons dig in deep, and they hurt. Two against one doesn't seem fair, so he tries to use his logical side, and instead speaks.

"What do you want?" The prey asks.

The predator grins, "Oh, well you see, I'm going to find all of Geo's Brothers, and I'm going to delete them all."

Bud struggles again, feeling his anger take over, but the one holding onto him is a lot stronger than he appears. "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

Solo raises a brow, "Oh? I see an EM Wave Change about to happen, I know you have an FM-ian with you."

Taurus makes his appearance then, his presence is that of pure anger. Eugor is quick to let go of Bud and go after the Wizard. With Bud now released, his first reaction is to get Solo.

Solo, however, is much quicker, and he easily gets behind Bud, tackling the taller kid's legs, knocking him over onto the floor. The impact hit Bud right on the head, causing him to get a serious headache and begin to bleed a bit. Solo is fast to get his hunting knife just as Bud turns around, and now the blade is in clear view.

Bud only growls angrily, "You won't get away with this, Geo will come by and-"

Solo slashes his knife at Bud's cheek, prompting the other to sit in silence. "You're wrong…you're just so damn wrong! Geo will not get me this time! He will fall! I will be victorious! I am going to get him, he deserves it after all the pain he's put me through!"

Eugor holds Taurus down with a sharp grin, "Worst opponent by far." His attention turns to Solo and Bud then, the emotional scene unfolds, Solo appears to be close to tears again.

And Bud sighs, "Look," his voice is quiet. "I don't know what you're going through, but, we can talk it out. I know what it's like to be confused-"

"You don't know what I'm going through, so don't act like you do."

He sighs, "Just don't do something you'll regret. Geo's a great guy, I'm sure he'd love to be your friend if you'd give him the chance. Then again, it may be too late now."

"I have no interest in making friends. I'm out to make you pay, all of you. You who decided to make fun of my people, you who decided to pretend to be some Mu ruler. You're going to pay."

Bud is confused, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Humph, you don't remember? Never mind. It's pointless to remind you. You're going to pay for what you did." Solo motions Eugor to help now that Taurus is knocked out. With much help, Bud is secured down onto the living room table. He struggles a bit, and Solo stands before him. "I have thought about what I want to do to you, you'll suffer slowly."

Bud struggles, he's grunting and releasing curse words. Solo doesn't care, instead, he gets right to work.

By getting right to work, this means Solo taking his trusted hunter's knife and aiming it at Bud's arm. Of course, Bud's begging Solo not to do it, but Solo doesn't listen. He digs the sharp blade into the arm, just where the elbow rests. He starts with slow cuttings, moving it back and forth, then he moves more rapidly, grinning as he does so. He gets to the bone then, watching closely as all the blood spills out, hitting the floor with many fast-paced drips.

Solo keeps hitting the bone, causing Bud to feel sick. "Eugor, mind handing me my bone saw?"

"Certainly," Eugor floats off to the kitchen, seconds later he returns with a bone saw, handing it to Solo.

Solo rests the tip of the sharp saw against Bud's exposed bone, and he begins to sew it relentlessly, causing the victim to scream and holler in pain. Once the arm was separated from the rest, Solo holds it up, blood and bone marrow dripping onto the floor. The victim is struggling and crying in pain, it takes seconds for him to pass out.

"How rude," Eugor says. "He fell asleep."

Solo drops the arm into a small bucket made out of clay. He takes his knife and opens up Bud's left eyelid, "This'll be because of the looks he was giving me. Let's see how he likes it!" Solo takes his knife and lifts up the eyelid and begins to cut off the eyelid. This causes the victim to wake back up, shouting and struggling, but in the process of that, Solo rips off the eyelid on accident. He curses silently and shoves the thing in Bud's mouth. Bud chokes on it, then spits it back out. Solo then takes the knife and aims it at the corner of Bud's eye, scrapping the very outer area of it. He attempts to dig it in, only to then try to fling it out. It pops up a little bit, but it seems that the eye is still secured in there. From the corner where the eye is up a little, Solo presses down into it with the knife, watching as blood trickles down the side of the hole. He gets impatient then, and slams the whole knife right into the eye.

This earns a hearty shout from his victim. Solo then removes the knife, the eye is stuck fast to it, the optic nerve barely hanging on. Solo then takes the bone saw in his other hand and begins to saw at the thing, causing the eye to come completely off, clear liquid and blood spill everywhere. The pain is too much, and Bud is out again, but only after vomiting all over himself. Solo sighs in frustration.

"Why do they always vomit and pass out?"

Eugor shrugs a little, "Guess it's a pain reaction thing."

"You know you're going to be the one to clean it up again."

"And why is that?"

"Because I need to clean my eye after this."

"Fine…but next time, you're helping."

Solo turns back to the unconscious body, "He's really not lasting well," he takes his hunting knife and stares. "Hm, I have an idea." He digs the knife into the other eye and does the same as he did with the first, this time leaving the eyelid in place.

"What do you want to do?" Eugor asks.

"I'm thinking…that little one, the small friend. I want to get him here as well. I want to see the extent of the bond that these two have."

"Oh? Do you want to go get him right now?"

"You go get him, I'm going to clean my eye."

"And the floor?"

"Eugor, it's going to get messy again."

He laughs a little, "Ah, I know, I know." With that, Eugor turns around and flies off through the walls.

Solo looks at Bud, "You're in for a rough time…"

* * *

Eugor returns holding an unconscious Zack, Solo is on the couch, poking his arm with a pin. "Eh? Kiddo, what are you doing?"

Solo shrugs, "I got bored and depressed, so I started poking my arm with this pin I have."

"Uh-huh, I see, well in any case, this one hardly put up a fight, his Wizard didn't even notice! He got so scared he passed out."

"Place him next to me, the big one's still out too. Let's tie the little one up, I have a sadistic idea."

Eugor's excitement takes over, "Oh? This is gonna be good."

"Damn right it is," Solo goes into the other room and gets out a handmade chair that he had off into the corner, he never actually used it, in fact, it's the only actual chair he has, since the rest are just tree stumps. Zack is placed into the chair and tied, just as the two finished, Bud had woken back up, of course, he cannot see, and he begins to scream. The screaming causes Zack to wake up then, also screaming.

Solo covers his ears. Eugor slaps Zack, hard. This causes him to shut up, but upon seeing his friend, he starts to scream again. Solo gets tired of this, he heads into the other room and finds a glass jar. The jar may be thick at the bottom, but it does get thinner at top, it almost resembles the shape of the bottle Solo's potion resides in, but not as curvy. This one is more squared. Solo then shoves the tip of the jar in Zack's mouth and hisses.

"Now you listen to me." Bud starts shouting Zack's name at this point, Solo continues. "If you want your friend to live longer you'll have to take what I'm going to dish out for him." Zack's eyes widen at this.

Eugor sticks his talons in the holes where Bud's eyes once were, "He's really been dealt with," he comments.

Solo feels the pride swell in him, he puffs his chest a little before turning back to Zack, a malicious grin crossing over his cold face. "Your precious Prez was first, and whoever is second depends on you."

Zack tries to shout into the jar, he tries to jerk his head, but it's tied in place. Solo continues to speak then, "So here's how this game is going to work, I am going to hurt you, the goal of the game is to not scream, because if you choose to scream, your poor friend over there will be hurt. Oh, and when I say hurt, I mean as in I'll remove his limbs. If I have no more limbs, well, then I'll have to do something else, perhaps skin him?"

Eugor honestly cannot explain the amount of pride that he is feeling. His grin is wide, and all he says is "Kiddo, I'm really proud."

Solo removes the jar, Zack whimpers quietly as he gazes up at Solo's face. "Let the game begin," he says.

"W-wait," Zack stammers.

Solo ignores him, he removes Zacks glasses and tosses them to the floor, breaking them apart. The glass is shattered, the lenses are still, however, in-tact. Solo bends down and picks up a shard of glass, he turns back to Zack and sticks the piece into the left eye of the victim.

Zack yelps, Solo decided to not count that as a scream. He slowly presses the shard into the child's eye, watching as the clear liquid pours out as the cornea breaks. Since the shard is so small, Solo also gets some of the liquid on his fingers.

And Zack screams. Solo grins.

"Well, well, time to cut off your friend's leg." Zack is begging as Solo heads over to Bud. The Murian grabs his bone saw and begins to cut off Bud's leg. Zack closes his eyes, the shard however makes the left eye nearly impossible to shut, and it is hurting him, he's never been in so much pain in his life.

The leg is cut just above the kneecap, Solo gets it down so that the leg hangs by a bit of skin at the very bottom. He looks over at Zack, who is crying uncontrollably. Then, he tugs at the leg, finally separating it from the rest of Bud's body. The pain is too much, and Bud is out again.

"Alright, alright!" Zack begs. "I won't scream, just make it stop!"

Solo drops the leg into the bucket, "We'll see if you live up to your promise." He walks back over to Zack and gets another piece of shard, right next to the first piece, he begins to stick the piece of glass deeply into the eye, draining even more of the cornea's fluid. Zack tries to hold back the screams, he opens his mouth, but then shuts it as the shard is in as far as it'll go. However, Zack ends up biting down onto his tongue, causing it to bleed quite a bit. This causes him to cry out, Solo, again, doesn't count it as a scream.

Another piece of shard, Zack is begging again, Solo was about to shove this piece also into Zack's eye, but decided suddenly on another plan.

"Hey, Zack, was it? How about a mini game. If you can answer this question correctly, I will not shove this piece into your eye. How does that sound?"

Zack is blind in his left eye, and the pain is getting unbearable. He releases sobs of "Why's" over and over again.

Solo shrugs a bit, "Alright. Answer me this question: What is my name?"

Zack doesn't answer, he only sobs harder. Solo is impatient.

"Come on," the Murian growls. "What is my name?"

Zack tries to clear his mind, he attempts to get a clear thought running through his smart brain, but it's so hard. Oh geez though, what _is_ his name. The kid sure look familiar! Doesn't it begin with an 'S'? Yes, surely it does! Or…is he thinking of another guy?

"Well?"

Zack blurts out, "Skunk!"

Solo grits his teeth and brings his fist down onto the top of Zack's head, "Skunk?! You compare me, the last of Mu, to that of a mere vermin?!" He shoves the shard into Zack's left eye on the other side of the first piece. This causes Zack to scream in pain, and Solo heads back over to Bud in response.

"Big mistake!" He grabs the bone saw and begins to saw off Bud's right left arm, just right above where the elbow is. At this point, Bud is bleeding a lot, Solo wouldn't be surprised if the kid was already dead.

Oh wait, he's alive, because now he's also crying in pain.

Solo is done with the screaming and the howling and the crying…just everything!

The one who is conducting the whole thing grabs the jar that he had in Zack's mouth earlier, he scoops up some glass shards, Bud's one eye lid, and adds in some water. He shakes the concoction and heads over to Zack, shoving the drink into the kid's mouth. "Drink it."

Zack does as he's told, but he ends up gagging. Solo keeps the glass in place, shoving it in Zack's mouth as far as it can go. He's drinking it alright, but then he's hacking it back up. And judging by the color of the water, it seems that he's vomiting into the glass. Oh well, Solo's not moving the jar, guess he'll have to swallow that all as well.

Zack is choking and sputtering, he tries to desperately fight, tries to desperately swallow it all. It takes a while, an eternity for him, three minutes for Solo, but the concoction is finally down, and the jar is removed.

Solo backs off and places the jar onto the floor. "Alright, we're almost done, and then I'll put you both our of your misery." He reaches over and grabs his hunting knife, he then turns back to Zack. "I'm not sorry for doing all this to you, tonight was really gleeful so far, I even got to kill two birds in one stone. However, just know that your "prez" did do a good one on me."

Zack blinks and looks up at Solo. Solo lifts up the cloth protecting his injured eye and show the smaller kid the damage. "See this? Yeah, she did this to me," he rests the cloth back down. "I can't see out of it at all, my eye is most likely ruined for good."

"I-I don't care you monster."

Solo chuckles, "There's your voice, here I thought that you would've strained your vocal cords with how loud you screamed." He then takes the knife and begins to slowly stick it unto Zack's ear. Zack is begging once again, but not screaming. The knife is a bit thick, so getting it into the small ear canal requires a bit of pushing. The skin is ruined, it bleed profusely, but the tunnel is larger. Zack screams as the knife hits his ear drum, Solo does ignore the screaming this time, he just wants to focus on this moment…

And he yanks the knife out, and on the tip of the blade rests a grayish thing, and Solo smirks, "Here's your ear drum." Solo grabs at the ear drum and yanks it off the blade, showing it before Zack's working eye. This causes him to pass out.

"I think I'm done," Solo admits.

"You did well," Eugor comments.

"Hm, I'm rather satisfied with tonight's carnage, I wonder who's left."

Eugor places a hand at his chin, "What about that pink girl?"

"Ah, her, Harp Note if I recall. Alright, guess she's next."

 **A/N: I am so sorry. I actually kind of feel bad for Bud and Zack. Ah well.**


	5. Chapter 5

'I think I'm falling deeper into sorrow. I don't get it, these murders should be helping! It's making Geo Stelar upset, and after all the pain he's caused me, he deserves it. Right?'

Solo sits upon a rock, it's cold outside, and the rock is in the wide open. He's a little further away from home this early morning, quite frankly he's not entirely sure why he walked so far off. A desire for a change of scenery perhaps? He has before him a fire, his kettle set makes his tea, the steam floating into the air, becoming one with the chilly frost that hangs thick. It's freezing, but the sun is out, and the rock has absorbed quite a bit of the warmth. He's a bit cold, but nothing he can't handle, if anything, the bitterness actually feels rather nice today. Something about it makes him feel alive, physically anyway, emotionally he feels dead.

His tea has to be done by now, poor shame he forgot his mug today, he usually keeps it in the kettle, and yet, it was not in there upon arriving at his current location. Where did he put that thing anyway? Honestly it's the second mug he's lost this week, the first one was found, oddly, it was under his living room table. He's just going to have to wait until the kettle is cool, drink it out of that instead. With how chilled the air is, that won't take too long.

The fire is left running, but he removes the kettle set, placing it down on the frozen ground beside him. The kettle is still much too hot to touch, what a great way to start the morning, he has to wait to drink his tea. Oh well, maybe his friend will be done cleaning up last night's mess once he gets back. What a kind friend that Eugor is, honestly Solo isn't sure where he'd be if he never drank that potion.

The potion, is it possible that if he drinks it again he'll have another Eugor? He remembers the instructions specifically told him to only drink half that time, anymore and it'll just be another problem, but, now that Eugor is out of his system, literally, perhaps he can drink the other half and another friend will arrive in the world?

'Oh, right, the pain that came with actually coughing him up. Now that I don't want to experience again. Okay, so perhaps I should just leave it be for now, besides, I already have one caring friend, do I really need another?'

While it doesn't sound like a bad idea, he tries to think negative of the two friend situation; how would Eugor feel about it? Honestly that, and the extricating pain of making the friend, are the only two negatives Solo can think of. Another friend would mean an easier time doing clean up, or maybe getting victims!

Now that's another interesting topic, victims. How many other people does Solo want to hurt? Honestly his only intent is to get revenge on his rival for causing so much confusion and pain, but he does rather enjoy doing what he does, well, at the moment anyway. He currently feels nothing, but maybe that's just his depression speaking, his depressive mind _has_ been getting in the way of doing a lot of things. Not like there's much he can do anyway, certainly indulging in too many modern technologies would defeat his whole Murian purpose. If he's going to use technology, it should be the ones his people did. Sadly, such technologies are hard to come by, even harder to create. Honestly to this day not too much is known about Mu, even Solo only knows what he was told by Lady Vega, oh, and what he read.

That's right, his parents died to stop Le Mu, he tried to reawaken Le Mu. Solo sighs and touches the kettle, good, it's cool enough to hold. He picks it up and begins to drink his tea, he didn't even realize how numb his fingers were starting to feel until now. It is pretty cold, so cold, freezing, why is he out here again?

Back to the beginning, how many times has he questioned himself the same things today. Wait a second, it's not even that early anymore, how long has he been out here?

He finishes his tea, it seemed to have gone by faster than usual. Come to think of it, the sun is higher up, and it's bright, could it almost be the afternoon? No, impossible, he woke up early today just as he always does…

How long has he been out here?

'I'm so confused, time to head home.'

He picks up his kettle, and there sits his mug, right behind the fire, he makes sure to pick that up as well, and he heads back home. If there's one question he can answer, it's that he knows the direction to home.

* * *

Eugor sharpens his black talon-like fingers on some wood, surely Solo doesn't mind, after all the kid hasn't done any woodwork for weeks now, and he has this huge pile just sitting over here. That's when he hears the small door open and close, and Solo crawls through, and then he makes his way down the stairs. "Hey, I was snooping around in town, the human are in much grief over the loss over the other two as well. Some are suspecting some FM-ian attack, now isn't that ridiculous? What can those aliens do besides make devices go haywire anyway?" He laughs, "That Taurus hardly put up a fight, his ass was easy to delete."

Solo places his kettle set into the corner, making sure everything was there before turning back to his friend, "Today's the day we get that girl. I hope you're ready."

"Heh, I'm always ready."

Solo takes a seat upon his couch, he rests back into it, his hands behind his head, feet up on the table. "I don't feel like going right now."

"What do you wish to do?"

"I don't know, just talk maybe."

Eugor floats on beside the couch, "Alright. What do you wish to speak of?"

Solo thinks, conversation was never his forte, not unless it involves Mu anyway. "So, if you're my deep inner conscious mind, does that mean you know everything about me?"

"Most certainly, maybe even more."

"Oh? Now you got me curious."

Eugor chuckles a little, "I thought you would be. For example, I can easily remember your parents."

Solo's eyes widen, he sits up. "You do?"

"Indeed. They were a bit harsh, but they did it out of love. They were real sweethearts really, your father was actually borderline push over, he merely wanted to fit in with the modern world."

"And Mother?"

"She was a bit strict, always snapping at your father and such. They did get along though, actually if anything, they complimented each other very well."

"How come you can remember all this and I cannot?"

"You were a baby, your brain was still developing. I am from deep within, all your stored memories simply didn't go away, oh no, you'll be surprised with how much memory the human brain can remember."

"That's really neat," he looks down then. "I guess you can also remember the day they left, huh?"

Eugor closes his eyes and speaks with a sad tone, "Indeed I can. But," he opens his eyes back up. "I can also remember the days of the bullying, the days where you were but a lost child on the streets. Thinking back, the day you discovered your EM Wave Change truly was the best day of your life, wasn't it?"

"That was the same day I found all those people that beat me up, boy I let them have it. That felt good."

"Heh, that it did. It was nothing like you ever felt. It was truly the best feeling, it left your shaking with excitement. Oh but you were nervous at first, but that had gone away once you heard them beg. They pleaded for you to stop, you did back away, only to find them again the next day."

"No one ever figured out it was me. Last time I heard they survived my attack, but they were all hospitalized. You're right, it _was_ the best feeling ever. The day I heard news of them being in the hospital was the same day Vega approached me. She had told me who I was, she told to visit the roads I saw in the sky. It's a whole other world up there."

"It truly is fascinating."

"You know what, I want to go delete some viruses, I'm feeling a bit mean right now! Would you like to come with? I mean…you seem to be able to touch wave bodies, so I assume you can come with."

"That I can, kiddo. Alright, let's go delete some viruses then! You have been slacking your training recently."

Solo stands up, he focuses his energy and does his EM Wave Change, becoming Rogue. For now he'll delete whatever is in sight, later on, he'll continue his revenge. "Let's go."

"Right behind you."

* * *

It's almost the evening. The air is even colder than earlier, a harsh wind has even picked up. It's a wonder that it isn't snowing. Rogue currently sits atop of a house, he knows this house belongs to that of a certain girl, aka, his next victim. He can't remember the girl's real name, he doesn't care, she's Harp Note in Wave Changed form, that much he remembers. She appears rather close to his rival, surely some love interest, honestly that'll make the torture that much more exciting.

"Heh, the pop star is inside alright, lucky break."

Rogue nods and phases through the ceiling, landing himself right inside of a pink bathroom. He exits through the door, phasing through it of course, and sees a sleeping girl upon a rather large bed. He pays little attention to anything else as he walks over to her. With one, swift motion, he shoves his hand onto her mouth. This causes her to wake up, her eyes wide and her body struggling. Her strength is no match for his, and he knocks her out with a swift punch to her jaw. He recently learned about this move thanks to a book he picked up from the library a few weeks ago, a book in which he only just now got around to.

Quietly, as to not disturb her Wizard, he picks her up and hops out the window, heading back to his place to begin the deed.

* * *

Her eyes flutter softly, she can hear voices through her cloudy mind, they seem…excited.

"Sonia? Sonia Strumm? That's her name?" This voice sounds familiar.

"That is her name, correct. She's a pop star as well. "This one however, does not, nor does it sound like a person.

"I don't care honestly, she's a friend of Geo Stelar's, that's all that I need to know."

Her eyes bolt awake, her mind processes the image before her. She notices the odd room last, first thing she notices are two figures. The one appears to be that of a boy, the other some sort of floating shadow. They mentioned Geo, and now they're starring at her.

"Well she's awake now," the boy said. Wait a second, she knows him! He's Rogue, er, Solo was it?

"Appears so," is he some kind of alien?

"Sonia, welcome to your funeral."

"Kiddo that was a bit cheesy."

"Humph. Alright, to get to the point, Sonia Strumm, you're going to die here."

Die? She tries to move, she's tied to a chair. They're smirking at her. "What do you want from me?" She growls angrily.

Solo shrugs, "To hurt your friend by hurting you."

She grits her teeth, "Lyra! Help!"

But no help is sent, no EM Wave Changing is happening. The shadowy figure laughs, Solo just seems amused.

"She honestly thinks she can escape, kiddo! Look, Sonia," his voice stings like ice. "You're not getting away so easily!"

Solo walks behind and picks up his hunting knife, "You're not getting away, period. In fact," he turns back at her. "You're going to die a very painful death. I went out and got a little something earlier today, actually, I got _several_ things just for you."

Sonia begins to struggle hard against her bonds, trying to suppress her fears.

Solo wastes no time shoving his knife into her left eye, and Sonia screams, and oh boy can she scream. Those singer lungs of hers release the most blood-curdling scream Solo had ever heard. He removes the knife, her eye popping out and dangling on her face. She's still screaming, and she's crying and begging. Solo marvels at the beauty of it all for a second before cutting the cord, separating her eye from her socket. He places it on the table, and reaches into a box. Eugor grins sharply.

Her voice doesn't go hoarse, her throat barely even hurts, but she does stop screaming. She opens her other eye, and she sees her predator stand before her, a rat in his hand. She shakes her head to the best of her ability, she begs, she moves, her mind goes dizzy from panic.

Solo, of course, ignores her, and he takes the wild rat, and shoves it into her eye socket. He then tips the chair over, knocking it back so that she now rests upon the chair's backside. He kneels next to her, the rat does try to escape, but Eugor places his hand over the eye hole, keeping the creature inside.

Depending on the rat's action this could either be a slow death, or a fast one.

Solo doesn't end it there, he takes his knife and makes a large cut on her leg, ripping her pajama pants in the process. He reaches around for his box and grabs at another rat, this one however, is dead.

And it's full of maggots.

The wound is bleeding heavily, and Solo wastes no time in attempting to dump the dead rat's hosts onto the deep cut. Many land down, and they begin to squirm right away inside. Sonia is screaming so much that she actually feels her throat scratch up. Her head is going numb, and she swears she can feel the rat scratching at her brain.

Solo just sits and watches, he begins to bandage the leg back up, dropping the dead rat back into the box. But from that same box, Solo pulls out a large worm, more specifically, a tape worm. He notices her beginning to fade out, he can see it just by looking into her still healthy eye. He, along with Eugor, force her mouth open, and he shoves the worm inside.

"Swallow it."

Sonia chokes, she sputters, and saliva crawls down the corner of her mouth. She convulses, but she does end up swallowing it, to his surprise.

"That out to do it," Solo says as he stands up. He heads over to his couch and plops. "The rat may scratch at her brain, guess I won't be eating her meat."

"Not unless you want all these parasites," Eugor comments.

"Yeah, no. I did have worms, a few times actually, it wasn't fun." He reaches down on the floor and grabs his pipe.

"So, you're just going to leave her here?"

"Oh yeah," he begins to smoke it.

"Didn't I tell you how bad that is for you?"

Solo shrugs, "I can care less, I'm satisfied. What do you think the rat's doing?"

Eugor looks down at her body, "She's breathing harshly, so it seems that it may still be crawling around. I don't feel it at my hand. I'm sure it'll start scratching her insides then."

Solo grins in satisfaction, he rests his feet upon the table and relaxed. "Good, maybe if we're lucky she'll still be alive by tomorrow. I doubt it, that rat has to be looking for a way out now, but it's still a nice thought."

"She sure does seem to be in a lot of pain though," Eugor lifts up the top of the chair for a second, getting a piece of Sonia's ripped pajama pants, he begins to tie it around the back, then over her mouth. "Guess I'm not moving this hand until we know what the rat's doing."

Solo gazes at the wall, "Huh? Oh, yeah. Guess so."

"Okay, so, now what?"

"Hell, I don't know, think of how hurt Geo Stelar is?"

Eugor grins again, "Heh, he must be in one serious depressive state right now. Oh man I can't wait until I see him."

"In fact, why don't we both pay him a visit tomorrow? Oh, just thinking about it now makes me all excited. I actually kind of want to go now. But alas, he's probably in bed, crying himself to sleep. I'll let him go for a few days, then I can begin to plan on the hunt. I have a mental image already of what I want."

"Oh, please do explain."

"Well, I have this constant daydream of the two of us in some forest. He's running for his dear life, he has tears in his eyes, he's been running for as long as he can remember. Then, he trips. That's when I rise up from a bush, I'm grinning, oh boy am I _excited_ as well. I pounce, he's beneath me. He's begging for his life. He's trying to convince me to let him go."

"But you don't."

"Exactly! I'll kill him slowly, maybe I'll do it in an old stab to the heart, I just want to watch his eyes go dark, I want to hear his final breath…it's so…it's so…erotic."

Eugor would raise an eyebrow if he could, "Oh? Where did you read that word at?"

"The spell book I stole from Fantasey. This is the feeling I felt last night. It's so…tempting. It's like a strong desire. Thinking about this gives me these odd tingles."

The shadowy figure licks his lips with his pointy, orange tongue. "Oh, please, do tell me more about this feeling."

"You'd have to feel it to know it," he sighs happily.

"And what if I _have_ felt it?"

"Oh? Then I guess it's normal after all. It's pure excitement," he sinks lower into his seat. "What…even _is_ this feeling, it's like a strong desire."

"Seems like someone's hormones are acting up."

"You're from my mind, what's happening to me?"

"Heh, let's just say, you're a sick bastard."

"Think Mother and Father would be proud?"

"Oh they would be more than proud, their precious boy is growing up. He's discovering himself, and he's spilling the blood of the ones who hurt him. I am sure the whole Mu line would simply adore you."

"Really?"

Eugor has enough of keeping his eye in place. He begins to tear at the girls' shirt, ripping a large portion off and then balling it up. He sticks it in her eye socket just as she awakens. She tries to scream, but the gag made from her pants prevents her screams from being anything more than mere muffled shouts. He flies over to Solo, and he is now before him.

"Please, kiddo, let me try something."

Solo, amused, places his pip down and stares up at his friend. Without a single word Eugor approaches, their faces now centimeters apart. Solo's instinct is to back away, but his friend places his icy cold fingers upon his cheeks, and their lips are then met.

Solo is very confused, he has heard of this before, it's called a kiss, but why is Eugor kissing him? He thought only people who loved each other could kiss. Or…maybe close friends can too? What Solo feels for Eugor is some type of love, perhaps that counts?

So, he goes along with it, pressing his face into the kiss, but it gets weird then as Solo feels a long, slimy thing sneak its way past both their lips, reaching into his mouth, and even going down his throat. Solo chokes, he feels some type of thick, liquid enter his mouth, much slide down the front of his throat. He struggles, but Eugor is sure to keep Solo in place. Within seconds, the tongue is removed from Solo's throat, but it remains in his mouth, going into one of his cheeks. Thick, glowing orange saliva escapes from the corners of their mouths, and soon Solo is lying down on his back. Eugor then removes his mouth, he grins down at his friend.

"So, kiddo, was that nice?"

Solo pants a little, he's honestly not sure how to describe what just happened. His mouth has a nice, minty taste to it though. "Don't…know, honestly."

Eugor's grin softens then to a genuine smile, "I'm going to try something else now. I want you to picture that thought you told me earlier, the one with Geo in the woods. Really picture it in your head. Remember every little details."

"Alright," Solo keeps his eyes glued to his friend's dark face, gazing deeply into the orange orbs. As his mind slowly adjusts to the image, he begins to feel a slight desire of sorts. At this point, Eugor bends down and begins to trail his slimy tongue at Solo's neck, which causes the Murian to shiver a bit. The warm saliva sticks to Solo, and he soon finds his hips bucking up a little. Just what Eugor wanted.

Eugor moves so that the tail of his body rubs against Solo's crotch through his pants. Solo seems pleased with this and releases a small gasp as the tail is moved. The thought races, Solo soon reaches the part where Geo trips, and that's when he jumps up and pounces. His hips buck again, he's growing desperate, the tail moves faster. He gazes deeply into Geo's eyes. A small groan. Geo is begging. Why is he feeling so tingly? He stabs him. Oh man he's overcome with excitement. The life in Geo's eyes fade. He twitches, and he's done. Eugor moves.

His thought ends, and Solo's half-dazed eyes open. His neck is coated with the paste-like saliva, it sticks to him, but he barely notices that. "What… _was_ that?"

Eugor gazes down, "Next time…it won't be so dry."

Solo cocks his head in confusion, "But my neck is coated in your saliva."

Eugor chuckles, "That's not what I meant, next time you'll see."

Still confused, Solo stands up and heads over to his stores water. He scoops some of it up into a bowl and begins to scrub the orange goo off of his neck. "Eugor?"

"Yes?"

"I'm just wondering, how do you feel about another friend?"

"Maybe someday, Solo, for now, focus on me, alright?"

Solo gazes at the potion bottle off on the side of the floor then back at the bowl of water, "Alright." Guess that solves another question he had earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

He chooses not to wander too far this time. It's cold, it's always cold now. But it doesn't bother him. Now the fact that he actually forgot his cup this time, that bothered him. He remembers to wash the cup, but doesn't remember to put it back in the kettle. Seems his mind is forgetful lately. How old even is he? Wasn't his birthday a few days ago? He was…13, if he had to recall. So, is he 14 now? He doesn't feel any older, nor does he feel any wiser. Actually, he feels pretty faint today, maybe even a bit nauseated. Oh, here comes a headache.

Tea. Yes, tea makes it all go away. He casually sips some of his tea right out of the kettle, only know his tongue feels scolded. Great, today's going to be a lovely day, he can just feel it.

He finishes up his tea and stands up, he kicks a bunch of snow onto the running fire and heads back home. He didn't even realize until he got home that he left his kettle there. At this point, he actually finds himself slapping his face.

Eugor phases through the wall, "You've set the whole town in a panic. I managed to dispose of her body. She's buried with the others deep under the earth. No one will find any of them. Hey, why the long face, kiddo?"

Solo sighs from his seat at his couch, "I'm just not happy."

Eugor grins and floats beside the boy, "Come now, you have much to be proud of. Look at all the success you've done!"

He feels a large hand upon his shoulder, Eugor's sharp fingers digging into his bone slightly. "I just can't be happy. I'm not sure why."

The shadowy figure uses his other hand to softly lift the boy's face up, the two now gazing into the other's expressions. "Kiddo, I am here to make the pain go away, I can help, but you're going to have to listen to me."

Solo's face is released, and in response, his head goes back down. With a sigh, he speaks. "Eugor, thank you. Without you I have no idea what to do. I've become reliant on you. But…that's okay, because, in a way, you're still me. Right?"

"You can say that, kiddo."

The Murian looks back up, gazing deep into the orange orbs of his friend. "Alright, tell me, how can I make the pain fade?"

That grin, that knowing, cocky grin returns to the shadow's face. "Follow me," with those words said, Eugor flies off into the kitchen, his companion following behind him. Once there, Eugor reaches into one of the drawers, and pulls out a small knife. "I think you remember doing this before."

Solo grasps the dull knife by the handle and gazes at it, almost as if questioning the existence as to why he has such a dull knife in the first place. Without much thought, he sighs a bit and lifts up his sleeve, Eugor watches intently, all while guiding Solo over near a bucket filled with water. Solo understands the hint and begins to slide the edge across his forearm. He aims to make the cuts no deep, but enough so that it'd at least satisfy _something_ in him. The blood dribbles softly into the bucket below, small droplets creating a rhythm. He decides to take it a step further, rather than make a new cut, he places the edge back into the fresh cut, and begins to carve at it slightly. He bites his lip at the stinging pain, but eventually, he notices the blood coming out much faster, practically pouring out. He feels those orange eyes locking onto the scene, and Solo himself finds this almost enchanting.

The dull knife comes down again, this time, he decides to go downward, overlapping three down cuts on top of the still bleeding cut that he just made. It stings, quite a bit, but the pain is almost a good pain. Something about this feels right. He isn't sure if this is meant to be a form of self-punishment, or perhaps it's supposed to be some neat thing to look at. All he knows is that the blood is coming out much faster, and the water below is a deep red.

Eugor suddenly pats Solo's back, "Looks nice, kiddo."

He smiles, he's actually smiling. Solo finds a joyous smile spread across his face. Once again, his friend is proven right, this feels amazing. Too good. Why hadn't he ever thought about this before? If Eugor's a deep part of his mind, does this mean that perhaps this is just something normal? Do all people have this natural instinct deep inside to just harm themselves?

His questioning stops once he feels a towel press firmly upon his arm, which hasn't stopped bleeding, but slowed down significantly. "I have a job for you, kiddo."

Solo blinks a bit, he looks at his seemingly gentle friend, "Anything." He feels no hesitation.

"I have decided that these next few days are going to be dedicated to your and my friendship. I need you to go get us some zenny."

"Zenny? How come? Do you wish to buy things?"

"Possibly. I ask you, please, go get us zenny. A lot of it."

"I'm not sure, I mean, it sounds like a good idea, I'd love to. But-"

"But what?" Eugor removes the towel at this point, he tosses it to the side on the floor. "Are you questioning my motives? I have you and I in mind here."

Solo can recognize that tone, Eugor is being firm with him now. He sighs, "It's just, I'm not exactly feeling well. I feel kind of ill for some reason. Maybe I can some other time?"

"I see, so this is how you repay me."

His eyes widen, "What? Eugor, I'm sorry. Wait, okay, I'll go. I'm sorry."

Eugor grins, "Good boy. For a second there I thought you didn't care about me. Now then, I expect you to return with a large sum. Don't come back until it's, oh, I'd say about 300,000."

Solo can feel his body almost get cold, 300,000? What on earth does Eugor need all those zennys for? He sighs again, "Alright. I'll come back then. I'm sorry."

The large hand ruffles the white hair of the Murian, "I knew I could count on my best friend for help! I promise, I have the two of us in mind here."

"Right," Solo heads outside, Eugor following. Once out, he looks back at the dark figure, then away. Without even muttering the phrase, he solemnly switches form, becoming Rogue, and heads off into the Wave Road. Eugor floats there, grinning wickedly.

* * *

Another virus, deleted.

And another.

And another.

And then two more.

His fist comes down on one last one before nearly falling to his knees. He's still a good 200,000 short. The Murian sighs, he's beyond tired, maintaining this form is starting to get harder and harder. But, he can't let Eugor down, not now, not when their friendship is starting to get so tight. Eugor makes him feel good, makes him feel like less a wasted Murian and more like a meaningful purpose. He can't lose him now! He has to come back with the sum. He has no idea what he wants to do with all this cash, but surely it has to be good. It must be.

Rogue turns around and is greeted with a small swarm of viruses. With a single thrust of his arm he pulls off one of his signature moves, a bunch of purple fists fly at the swarm, and they're all deleted. He almost grins. But then he feels his vision swim a bit, his legs feel loose, almost detached, and the next thing he knows, he's on the floor.

'I can't go on. But I can't go back either. He needs me. He's counting on me. Come on, Rogue! Pull yourself together!' Slowly, he stands back up, his fists ready to hit anything close by.

"Rogue?"

His body freezes up, that voice. Suddenly, he feels fury.

"Hey, are you alright? I saw you collapse."

Rogue turns around and sees him, the very one who has caused this whole thing. "MegaMan…"

There stands the very blue hero himself. Rogue's polar opposite in every way. "I was just passing by, that's all."

Rogue almost wants to smirk, he can hear it, the despair, the hopelessness, his rival is hurting, and it's all because of him. He maintains his stern frown, "I'm fine."

MegaMan backs up then, "Rogue…what happened to…your eye?"

Huh, he hadn't thought about that. The cloth doesn't stay attached in this form, so now his cut-open, iris and pupil-less eye is in sight for all to see. "That's none of your concern, MegaMan."

"You sure? You look a bit sickly, and thin, I…just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Rogue narrows his eyes angrily, but then…he finds amusement. He begins to laugh, it starts out small, then gets louder. MegaMan is rather shocked, he's…never seen Rogue laugh, he's never even seen him smile.

Rogue calms down then, "Stop acting like you care!" MegaMan nearly flinches, Rogue's voice is this icy cold tone, it almost sounds unnatural for him. "We are the purest of enemies, MegaMan! We are not supposed to _care_ about each other! We're supposed to feel malice upon seeing each other!"

The blue hero steps forward, "That's not true! And I thought you respected me."

Rogue just scoffs, "Respect? I can't respect a _worm_ such as yourself."

MegaMan's eyes narrow to a sad expression. Something here isn't right. He then notices Rogue begin to fall a bit, and he's quick to catch him. The two are now on the floor below, Rogue's upper torso in MegaMan's arms.

"Rogue, please. You're not well," his eyes sting.

"Haa…oh, pathetic…seems like you're about to cry." Rogue just stays in place for a bit, his head swims, his vision is black, and hears soft sobs coming from the other. Next thing he knows, he's being carried off somewhere, however, he quickly struggles free, mind now fully functioning, he realizes he's in MegaMan's arms.

"Gah! Let me go!" A swift punch to his rival's face, and now MegaMan's the one on the floor, "Trying to kidnap me as I lose consciousness, huh?"

MegaMan rubs his nose, which bleeds quite a bit. Rogue really socked him one, and he's a real bruiser. Good thing the pain will vanish the moment he reverts back to his human form, which honestly, he is really looking forward to right now. The pain is almost unbearable.

Rogue is seething, "Well?" He barks.

MegaMan sits up and rubs his nose, "I just wanted to get you out of here! You ungrateful-"

"Bite your tongue! I don't want to hear shit from you!"

MegaMan almost flinches again at the mere tone and language of his rival. Did…he do something to anger Rogue? Last time he saw him he wasn't even mad. Actually, Rogue had complimented him, he told him he respected him. Now here they are, mere months later, it's as if none of that happened.

"I'm sorry," the hero says.

Rogue watches closely, his body begins to shake, and he's overcome with a pure sensation of rage. But, then he notices it; tears. MegaMan is crying. He's curled up in a ball, and sobbing quietly. He almost wants to smile, in fact, he does find himself smiling. And then he finds himself laughing, and the confused look on his rival's face only enhances it.

Until it's replaced by rage and Rogue is tackled to the floor.

"What is so funny?!" MegaMan shouts, his hand pressing firmly down onto Rogue's chest.

Rogue stops laughing but maintains his grin, "Just seeing how pathetic you look amuses me."

The anger boils up, and without thinking, MegaMan takes his fist and hits it down into the bottom of Rogue's neck, right where his collar begins. He immediately regrets this, and he sees his rival coughing up a storm in seconds, clutching at his throat. MegaMan, know on his knees besides Rogue, holds his mouth, watching.

"You," Rogue coughs. "Bast…ard." His voice trails off, and soon, he finds speaking too hard to accomplish.

MegaMan breathes in a sharp breath and then goes to place a hand on Rogue, but, decided against it. "Rogue, please, I'm so sorry. These last few days. I lost everyone."

Rogue sputters a bit, he hacks and angrily looks at MegaMan. "You think that's some excuse?" He coughs again, his throat strains, "It's just like you to rely on others so much that you-" he holds his throat and coughs again and again.

MegaMan feels his chest tighten, he attempts to speak, but finds no words come to mind. He watches as his rival coughs a few more times before turning around and walking off. His initial reaction is go to after him. Rogue could be in danger too, especially in his condition. Yet, his legs don't move. He sits there, watching intently though teary eyes as he begins to walk off.

But he didn't get far. Rogue collapses. MegaMan is quick to find the strength to get up, and run toward him. On the floor, he picks Rogue up, he can see the other having troubles to keep himself awake. It only takes a few seconds before the Murian actually passes out, his eyes close, and his body goes limp.

The hero figures thinks it over, and decides on the right thing to do.

* * *

He stirs softly. It's warm. It smells differently. Why does it smell so differently? What is this place?

Solo's eyes open and he sits up. He's in an unfamiliar setting, and he's in someone else's bed.

"Solo…"

He grits his teeth and turns to his left, "Geo."

Geo stares intently, "What's wrong with you?"

"Quit acting like you're concerned," he begins to move. Geo is quick to stand up and attempts to push him back down.

"Solo, I'm serious."

"I am too," he holds his throat, it's still sore. Then he remembers. He was supposed to get zenny. Suddenly, Solo goes to punch Geo's side, and while he did hit the boy, he barely hurt him.

Geo sits back down at the chair beside the bed, he's barely in any pain. "I'm just trying to help…"

Solo scoffs, "Why would you help me? Me, the one who has tried to kill you how many times."

Rage is infused with the hero, Solo can see it in his eyes. It's a look he's not used to seeing in Geo. "I just want to help you because it's obvious you're unwell, okay?!"

Solo breathes heavily in frustration, "You didn't answer-"

"Quiet. Do you know something that I don't?"

"What are you implying?"

"My friends, they've all gone missing."

"That's your problem, I can care less. How long have I been out?"

Geo sighs, "It's morning, I can tell you that much."

"I shouldn't be here," Solo goes to get up, Geo is once again pushing him down. "Stop it!"

"Solo, you're unwell. What is wrong with you?"

"That's none of your concern!"

Geo shoves Solo onto the bed, he moves on top and pins him there. "Listen to me! I…I just don't want to see you pained!"

Solo stares, his expression more relaxed. "Why? I don't get it."

Geo pauses, his eyes lock onto the one exposed eye of Solo. He can feel tears, "I…I'm sorry, Solo." Geo sits back, resting on his knees. Solo sits up. "You're…I don't want to say you're all that I have but…"

Solo watches intently, "Yeah, don't say that. You never had me to begin with. Anyway, I have to-"

Geo suddenly pushes Solo back down again, "I'm so sorry, Solo, please. Don't leave me."

"Geo Stelar, I hope you know that I hate you."

"But why?!" He suddenly shouts, "Why do you hate me?! I thought we had a respectful rivalry!"

Solo growls, "Shut your trap."

Geo suddenly begins to life Solo up by the shoulders and then pushes him back down again and again, "Why do you hate me?! Why do you hate me?! What did I do?! WHY?!"

Clearly, Geo has lost it. Solo begins to smile, "You're suffering I see."

Geo has tears pouring out of his eyes, his fingers dig deep into Solo's shoulders. He notices the boy smiling, "Solo…why?"

Solo suddenly begins to laugh, "Oh, Geo! You're so pathetic now that you're friends are all gone. You honestly are starting to beg that I would help you! Right? You want me to comfort you. You think I still respect you! It's so amusing. You're so desperate you're willing to take anyone you know and suddenly befriend them. It doesn't matter that I hate you, all you want right now is for me to approve of you. You crave my attention, don't you?"

Geo stares, "I…"

"Feh, don't expect it to happen though. I hate you, Geo Stelar. I want you gone. I want you dead. I'll let you live for now. But expect your death to come some day. Now then, let me up so I can leave."

Geo moves back, Solo stands up. He begins to EM Wave Change but finds summoning the form hard to do. His vision suddenly goes black, and he falls to one knee. His name is called by the one he hates, and he feels a hand on his shoulder. "Back…off, Geo."

"Solo, let me help you."

Solo slowly finds the strength to stand back up, at this point, his throat is killing him, his vocal cords feel raw and overused. That punch is most likely what did this, but now that he thinks about it, when was the last time he even had a drink? He attempts for a second time to EM Wave Change, this time, he pulls it off. He promised Eugor he'd come back with the zenny, he intends on bringing it back

Much to his pleasure, Geo did not follow suit.

He manages to find himself in the Wave Road, he looks around for any viruses. Rogue is quick to punch a few that he finds. He grins sadistically. Geo is suffering, that thought alone was making him happy. He's suffering like he is.

Another virus batch, they're deleted. Honestly, Geo deserves the torment. He deserves all this. Best part is, he has no idea it was him who had caused all this.

He's feeling his vision swim again.

When the time comes, he'll make sure Geo is hurt the worst. The thought of it excites him. What should he even do? Keeping him locked up and slowly making him suffer sounds pleasant. Oh but what kind of tortures should he do? Something slow and painful, perhaps it should be lightly physical, mostly mental.

He stops, he's feeling weak again. Oh, but he has so much zenny left that he needs, and he's not getting much from these wimpy viruses here.

Suddenly, he can't. He finds it hard to maintain this form. He dashes off, he needs to head home. Eugor is going to have to be disappointed, he can't take this anymore. Something is wrong with him.

Rogue jumps down onto the ground below. He's inches away from his house. Snow is everywhere, but it's barely three inches. He takes a breath and phases inside. He notices his friend, floating there, playing on the console.

"Ah, it is Rogue. Welcome home."

The Murian sighs, "I don't feel well."

"You did get all the zenny, right? I kinda need it so we can vacation somewhere."

"No, I didn't get it all. I can't. I'm sorry," he reverts back to his human form and collapses on the couch. "I couldn't do it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Eugor frowns, "I expected better from you, kiddo."

"I'm sorry."

"You did, indeed, fail me."

"I'm sorry."

"Just rest up for now."

"I'm so sorry."

"Shut up with the apologizing. Sorry means you won't do it again. Next time, don't let me down."

Solo lays upon the couch, 'I don't deserve to have a friend. I don't deserve him. I deserve no one. I only deserve death and torment. I'm terrible. I failed Mother and Father. I failed Mu. I failed myself. I'm a terrible person. I should just die.'

Solo turns onto his side and stares at Eugor, who is still playing the game, "I'm a failure, aren't I?"

"Yes, kiddo. You are. You let me down."

"I didn't mean it."

"Doesn't matter, you still let me down. I asked you as a friend to do one thing. After all that I've done for you, I ask you _one thing_ , and you couldn't do it."

Solo shakes a bit, "I'm so sorry."

Eugor suddenly turns to him, "I said quit it with the apologizing! It's pathetic."

He wants to badly to apologize again, "I am upset."

"You should be."

"But…but…I thought…"

"Thought what?"

Solo feels himself start to cry a bit, "I thought you would help me whenever I was down."

"Why should I? I've done how much for you already. Honestly, how can you be so selfish?"

He covers his face with his arms, "I don't know. I'm sor-" he stops and just lays there, weeping softly.

Eugor sighs, "Want to feel better? Go hurt yourself or something. Leave me alone for a bit."

Solo lays back down on his back and lifts up his sleeve. The scars are barely healing, they're all red. He stares for a bit before taking his other hand and lightly touching them with his fingers lightly. They hurt even at the slightest touch. His fingernails then begin to claw at them, right away, he is greeted with a painful, burning sensation as the wounds begin to open back up. His mine screams at him, the voices all telling him he should suffer, that he should die.

And suddenly, he's had enough. He digs his nails deep into his scars, all are reopen, and the blood pours down onto his abdomen below. Eugor hates him, his own deep mind hates him. He has no one, he doesn't even have himself. He's the only person he's ever really wanted. But now, he's starting to wish he had someone else, someone who would comfort him, someone who would hold him close, tell him it'll be alright. He's not sure if he'll ever have that. No one would ever love a broken freak like him. He doesn't even love himself. He doesn't deserve the love.

His mind suddenly stops. He sits up and looks off in the corner. There lies the potion.

Eugor is distracted at the console. Solo looks between the shadow and the white potion. Yes, he still has a second chance. He may be able to do it this time. He stands up and walks off near the bottle. He looks back, Eugor is engrossed at the game. Solo turns his attention back at the bottle. He picks it up and swishes the potion around. It still has that same, pasty look. The liquid moves slowly, and Solo brings the opening to his mouth. He feels hesitant and nervous, but, he's already begun it, he can feel the liquid enter his mouth, and his throat clenches.

He starts coughing, and suddenly, Eugor is at his side. "I see you've decided, another friend it is then."

Solo looks at him, "Well…"

"Go on, drink it, you already started it."

"I'm having difficulties swallowing it."

"Drink it."

Solo, once again, gets the opening at his lips, and he begins to drink it slowly. The lukewarm liquid is rather thick, so he is sure to drink just bits at a time. It takes a good two minutes, but he drinks it all, and he can feel his stomach churn a bit.

Eugor pats his back, "Well done."

His approval, Solo actually got his approval again. So, Eugor _did_ want him to drink it. It'll be a day or so, Solo will have another friend! What will this one be like? Will they be just as supporting as Eugor? The thought excites him. He's smiling again.

This should be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

He's on his knees now, he barely found the energy to come here. Last time's sleep was restless. As excited as he is to get a new friend soon, he also feels nervous at the same time. The pain, oh that pain he felt when he upchucked Eugor, that was no fun. He's not looking forward to it again, actually, remembering the severe pain alone caused him to have multiple panic attacks last night. Eugor was there to comfort him, he had seemingly forgiven him for his broken promise. But the moment Solo had started apologizing, that's when Eugor got mad, and he left. Solo was there all alone, he did manage to fall asleep, but it wasn't easy by any means. Actually, he is pretty sure he passed out due to all the stress.

The snow is cold, it seeps through his pants, his knees on fire thanks to the frost. His rock that he normally sits on has gone missing, or perhaps he didn't walk far enough. His usual fire set was here though, just the rock that was gone. He begins to set up his normal kettle set in eager of drinking his morning tea. The sun is barely even up, his vision is blurry. Perhaps it was unwise to get up right away, he should've considered staying in bed longer.

He looks up into the sky, it's cloudy, the air is crisp, and snow is starting to rain from the sky. Indeed, it seems today is a bad day to be outside. Oh well. Not like he cares anyway. What's a little frost bite anyway? Actually, getting frozen to death doesn't sound like that bad of a death.

The fire is warm, he stirs the water around in the kettle and adds in the mint leaves. Being this close to the fire gives him another idea. Being burned alive sounds quick. Right? Well, it may be painful, but it sounds quicker than being frozen to death.

The wooden spoon is brought to his lips and he takes a small sip, seems like he put in too many leaves. Oh well, it's not bad, just a bit different. It'll do. He takes his cup and dips it into the kettle, he scoops some of the tea out…and proceeds to accidentally drop the whole thing onto his legs.

"Dammit!" He shouts and begins to throw snow on top of his legs. The cool sensation helped for a few seconds, but then it began to make it worse. He stands up then, he feels practically frozen. He grins just a bit, it burns, the air, it makes everything burn. Something about it is comforting, reassuring. Although why, he doesn't know. Maybe he deserves it. He isn't sure anymore. On one hand, he didn't do anything yet today, on the other, he did basically try to awaken a god his parents attempted to stop, and of course, letting his one friend down.

Screw it, he gathers his things, kicks snow on the fire, and begins to head back. On his way back, the snow begins to fall down faster and heavier. Just breathing is painful, his throat beyond sore. Why is he even going home? What does he even have there anyway? What's the point in carrying on if you're nothing but a waste of space? What purpose does he even serve? All he does is mess up. His ancestors are ashamed of him surely. Mu was all he ever had, it's all he is, can he be his own? Or would that be selfish of him; to claim him as himself. But, without Mu, what even is he? Some broken boy, unsure of what to do, living day to day with little purpose and hope in life. Is there more to this? Can he be something else? Does he want to be something else? What else even is there out there for him?

It's much too cold, he sighs and drops his things. He takes a seat on the ground. There's no hope. He lost it. He has no will. What's the point in living if you fail what you have and find no happiness?

'There's nothing for me. I am nothing. My existence is nothing. I am defined by my lineage, but even that, I am unsure if I can claim as my own. I have failed them. There is no point.'

Suddenly, he heard something. He turns his whole body to his left and sees a lone figure walking his way. Curiosity hits him, no one ever comes out here, and if they do, it's usually a traveler heading toward the town, not away. He squints his eye, the figure is wearing a heavy, blue winter coat. They seem to have something in their hands.

There's a lone tree, Solo watches as the figure approaches the tree, a rope is thrown on top of one of the branches. He stops starring. He begins to run toward the figure. His vision blackens a bit, his body is stiff and begs him to not move, and yet, he runs anyway. He runs at the figure. He attempts to yell out, but his voice is caught in his aching throat. He knows this person, and he doesn't want it to end like this.

Geo stands upon a rock, a rope is around his neck. He sees someone run toward him. He had seen this figure from afar, but he's surprised to see Solo of all people look at him with a such pleading expression. It tears at his heart, and he removes the noose. The two lock eyes before Geo begins to cry. He jumps off the rock and rams himself into Solo's arms. Much to his surprise, Solo doesn't even yell, he doesn't back away, he does nothing. He just stands there. He doesn't give the hug back, but honestly, Geo's happy that he's willing to stand there more than push him away.

"Why…?" Is Solo's only word.

Geo sniffs, he backs up then and stares into the one exposed eye. "I am so lonely. I'm just a burden. Mom doesn't need me. I…I don't know anymore."

Solo just stares into his rival's face, his expression is calm whereas Geo's is full of pain. "Loneliness is good," he claims, his voice quiet, throat sore from just speaking.

Geo shakes his head, "I can't stand being alone anymore. I fear I may rely too much on others now. Mom is better off without me," he repeats. "So is Omega-xis. I have no reason to live now. My friends are all gone. I'm afraid I may lose them too. So I want to end it before the pain in me gets worse."

Solo continues to stare, Geo suddenly breaks down, he falls onto the ground, crying loudly. Solo is unsure what to say, part of him actually feels kind of bad. He almost feels sick. He drove him to this. All those nights where he wished pain upon Geo, all those nights where he'd lay there, hating the kid, all those nights where he wishes he was gone. Why? Why did he wish all that? Is it all because, in a way, Geo may be right?

But…is he allowed to admit that? Can he admit that? Would his ancestors hate him even more?

Solo, for the first time possibly ever, actually begins to feel sorry. He feels bad for what he did. He doesn't even try to deny it. What he did was wrong…

Or was it?

No, Geo is wrong. Geo is relying too much upon others, and look what taking them away does to him. He's wrong. He's weak. Solo begins to feel furious. Without much thought, Solo bends down and punches Geo straight on the cheek. Geo falls to his side, and he spits out some blood onto the white snow.

"Solo…why?"

Solo angrily gazes down into the broken face of his moral enemy, "You rely too much upon others. You're not the one I called my rival. You're beyond pathetic. I'd let you die, but, that would be selfish of you. Yes, Geo Stelar, I am calling you selfish. Your mother and Wizard need you, and yet, there you were, willing to take yourself away from them. I can't be more disappointed at you than I already am. You're a selfish bastard. They care for you. You're far from worthy of being called my rival."

Geo just stares in horror as Solo angrily looks off to the side. He begins to sob again, weeping harder than he ever has. Solo angrily looks back at Geo then, "Stop that crying!" He barks, "Learn to man up already! In this world it's those who find happiness among themselves that survive the longest."

Geo lightly touches his cheek, his sobbing ceases, but tears still run freely down his face. "I guess…I'm weak," he says softly.

"Weak? You're even beyond that. You're practically pathetic. If you were half the man I thought you were, you wouldn't have attempted to selfishly take your only life. Someone like me can kill themselves and literally no one would notice. But someone like you, no, you actually matter."

It's Geo's turn now to see pain in Solo's expression. He sits up slowly. Yes, that _is_ hurt he sees. Solo is hurting too. But why?

Suddenly, Solo's eye closes, and he collapses onto his knees. Geo is quick at the other's side, he calls his name, Solo responds with a small "Heh, I'm alright," before sitting up onto his knees.

"Please," Geo begs. "Tell me, what is wrong?"

Solo opens his eye, for a second, everything is fuzzy, but he finds himself face-to-face with the one he hates, yet again. "Why are you so concerned?"

Geo is hesitant to answer truthfully, "I just…you're a person, just like me."

"Don't compare us, Geo."

"I don't mean like that. I mean, we're both humans under the sun. Whether or not you want to admit it, you and I have that much in common. We're both living creatures with thoughts and needs. I'm pretty sure humans need love and compassion to be healthy."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'll give you this much, yeah, we're the same species, but it doesn't go much farther than that."

"I think you're wrong. There's something here you're not telling me. Something is wrong with you. You're unwell, and if you keep this up, then your own illness is going to be your demise. You need help, Solo. I'm willing to help if you just give me the chance."

Solo avoids Geo's gaze, "You can't help me, you'll only make it worse."

"So, there is something wrong."

He closes his eyes, "What gave you that idea? The fact that I look physically ill? Or the fact that I basically admitted to myself that you may be right…" he grits his teeth.

Geo cocks his head, "Come again?"

"It's nothing."

He grips Solo's shoulders, "Please, you said I may be right? Right about what?"

"It's nothing."

"Solo…"

His eyes open again, and Geo can see what seems to be the beginning of tears in the one. "It's…nothing."

Geo breathes sharply, trying to avoid breaking down. He can see Solo doing the same. Not knowing what else to do, he pulls Solo into a hug. Solo, however, inches his way out of the hug, much to Geo's displeasure.

"That doesn't give you the right to touch me," Solo says firmly.

Geo looks away, "I'm sorry."

"I should probably go."

"Wait, do you want to, maybe, come back home with me?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

Geo thinks, "I was hoping, maybe, we can just talk a bit?"

"Talk? With you?"

"Yeah. I want to know more about Mu."

Solo blinks, "I don't think you do."

"Or we can play video games."

"Again, why?"

"Because, I think I'm better than you. I bet I can beat any high score in Burger Quest."

Solo narrows his eyes, "That's awfully cocky of you to say."

"Well? Care to come with me and prove me wrong?"

Solo considers, it sounds like a trap. Geo's lonely and wants his attention. So, in a way, him going would mean Geo is using him. But, then, Solo gets an idea. If Geo uses him, then he can use Geo too. He smiles, "Alright, I'll come with you."

Geo smiles, although, looking at Solo's smile makes him nervous. Seriously, smiles don't look natural on this guy…

* * *

To be honest, Geo wasn't the most confident at this game. He lost, it was quite a competition, but in the end, Solo just seems to have a better and more strategic mind-set. Geo looks at Solo, who just has a blank expression. "You're good," Geo compliments.

Solo places the controller down and looks to his right at Geo, "You actually aren't half bad yourself."

Geo smiles a bit, "Thanks. I've been playing this game a lot lately. Usually I'd play with Bud." His smile vanishes, replaced by a frown.

Solo notices the pain on Geo's face, it makes him feel happy inside, "What, the husky one?"

Geo nods, "Yeah. He went missing days ago as well. They all did. I've looked. We've all looked. I don't know where they are at." He then looks up at Solo, "Do you know where any of them are at by any chance?"

"Don't be ridiculous, why would I know where _your_ friends are even at?"

Geo then looks back at the screen, "Ready for a rematch?"

Solo finds staring at the screen to be hard all of a sudden, and combined that with the light, he finds his vision blackening again. Geo notices this and looks over.

"Solo, you alright?"

"I've been feeling ill the past few days," he can feel his stomach begin to pain. Oh no. He pales.

Geo cocks his head, "What's it like? Are you sick? Did you catch something?"

Solo sighs sharply, "It's nothing. I don't think it's anything bad." He shuts his eyes, the pain is getting worse. Geo watches as Solo sits there, seemingly struggling. As quick as it came, the pain suddenly subsides, and Solo sighs in relief.

"I can give you some medicine, my mom is a nurse you know."

Medicine? Would that even help him? Come to think of it, some sleep sounds really good right about now. But he doubts he's just sleep deprived. "No."

"You're awfully thin though, would you like me to get you some soup?"

"No."

"Solo, why are you so thin anyway? And where do you even live? Do you live outside?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"I don't think you are."

Solo growls a bit, "Alright, we can do a rematch."

Geo gets up, "Actually, I'm going to get soup, be right back."

Solo rolls his eyes, maybe when Geo comes back he'll take the soup and dump it on him or something. Then again, eating it himself doesn't sound half bad. When was the last time he ate anyway? Three days ago? Maybe that's why he's so busy. He doesn't really feel hungry though, nor does he feel a desire to eat anything. Or, wait, does he? He did just have a passive thought of eating the soup himself. No, wait, that's stupid, eating before Geo would look weak anyway. He's already hinted how many times that there's something wrong with him mentally, he doesn't need any more fire to fuel Geo's suspicion.

Geo returns minutes later with a bowl of soup, he takes a seat besides Solo. "You seem depressed."

Solo doesn't even look at Geo, nor does he look at the television screen before him, he just stares at the floor. "I'm fine."

"You sure? You can have this soup if you want, it'll make you feel better, I think."

"I told you, I don't need anything from you."

"Solo, you're acting foolish."

Solo suddenly turns to Geo angrily, "Foolish? How am I being foolish?"

"You're not accepting what's being offered, even though you need it."

"I don't need anything, especially from you!"

"Why? Because you fear of being seen as weak by me? You need to take better care of yourself. You've lost a bit of weight, it's concerning. And you know there's still another two months of winter. And if you live out there…"

"You're assuming. Knock it off. I'm fine."

"Prove to me that you're fine."

"And how exactly do you want me to do that?"

"Well, can you fight?"

Solo seethes, "Of course I can fight!"

Geo places the bowl off on the floor, he suddenly lunges himself at Solo. Solo is surprisingly, even to himself, slow to react. He's on his back, and Geo sits on his legs, pinning his arms. Geo frowns, "Usually you'd give me a better tussle than this."

Solo moves, but he finds little strength to exert. He's quickly tired, and his vision blackens again. Next thing he knows, Geo is shaking him lightly, saying his name softly. "Huh?" Solo's eyes open, through the one, he sees Geo, holding him.

Geo sighs, "As I thought."

Solo is confused, "Wait, how long was I out?"

"A few seconds. Solo, how long have you been like this? Honestly, until yesterday, I haven't seen you in months."

Oh boy, thinking. Solo tries to think, then he realizes that he's thinking for Geo, he stops and scoffs. "Why does it matter?"

"Because, I fear you may have some form of mental illness."

"Mental illness? Are you out of your mind?" Solo pushes Geo away.

Geo is on his knees back in his original spot at the floor, "Are you depressed?"

Solo sits up as well, sitting his legs in a criss-cross fashion. "Why the hell would I be depressed?"

"You just seem so sad to me."

"Well you're assuming wrong. I'm fine."

Geo sighs, "Alright. I'll stop pushing you," he picks up his soup and begins to eat it.

Solo sits in silence, "You're really annoying."

Geo shrugs, "And you're a misguided fool."

Solo sighs angrily, "You're really asking for it, Geo Stelar." He looks at the other with a calm composure, despite feeling irritated inside. He was about to go on about leaving soon, when suddenly, he begins to feel his stomach contract again. At first, he dreaded that soon his new friend would arrive, but then, he realized within seconds it was just his body reminding him how he should be eating more. On one hand, he is relived, on the other, he's embarrassed as hell, as his stomach decides to release some loud noise, indicating his hunger, and now, Geo is laughing at him.

This causes the Murian to roll his eyes, "Yes, me being half starved is hilarious."

Geo's laughter ceases in seconds, he edges his spoon near Solo. "Come on, just some, pretty please?"

Solo backs away, "You're really starting to push your luck."

Geo smiles lightly, yet behind that smile, he feels concern. "Come on, just a small spoonful? It's really good."

"You moron. I said no," Solo barks.

Geo puts the spoon in his mouth, "But it's so good."

"I don't have to stay here, you know."

Geo shrugs, "Well, you're still here, so it's obvious you want _something_ from me."

"Listen you, I just came because I didn't want you to hurt yourself again. That is all. Okay? I am the one who is going to end you. If you end yourself than it's just pure selfishness."

"And then what? Would you have no purpose?"

"My purpose is to spread Mu culture, find its technologies and artifacts, and use them to educate others on how amazing the civilization was. That is who I am. That is all I need."

"Sounds to me like you may need some food in your belly before anything."

Solo growls angrily, "Fine. I'll have some of your soup. Just shut your trap!"

Geo finishes up his bowl and leaves, he comes back minutes later with a different bowl and gives it to Solo. "There, just do me a favor, try not to get the urge to throw it at me. I know you hate me, but I did just get the carpet cleaned."

Solo takes the bowl, "You really are the biggest moron I know." He starts to eat the soup quietly.

Geo smiles again, "Maybe after this we can have that rematch?"

"Yes, and wipe that smirk off your face."

Geo decides to stop bothering him, as much as he wanted to continue teasing Solo, he really does fear getting a bowl to the head. Honestly, Solo looks about two seconds from doing just that. Speaking of bowl, the thing is thrusted into Geo's face rather fast. "Finished already?"

Solo narrows his eyes, "Yes. Problem? Dare I ask."

"Oh, no problem. Want any more?"

"No. Now let's have this rematch already."

Geo leaves briefly to dispose of the bowl, once back, he picks his controller back up, eager to start round two.

* * *

Solo…is good. And again. Geo lost. He stares at the screen for a brief moment before turning back toward the one who supposedly hates him. "Wow, you're good."

Solo looks at Geo as well, alright, enough games. He came here to make Geo suffer, so shall begin the suffering. He suddenly feels a sharp pain in his abdomen. He tries his best to hide the pain, but grows more and more. He struggles to keep a straight face, and he starts to turn red.

Geo takes notice of this, "Hey, are you alright?"

Solo places a hand on his stomach and bends over. He doesn't say a word. Geo is next to him, asking him again and again if he's alright. Solo lifts his head up, "No! I am not alright! Shut up!"

Geo is slightly taken aback, he suddenly rushes out of the room, only to return minutes later with a bucket. Solo grabs at the bucket and begins to heave heavily. Geo at first stays away from the other, but, he is next to him then, rubbing his back deeply. Solo seems to be having troubles getting it out. He's shaking harshly, and he even can hear him beginning to cry a bit. Whatever is happening, it must be painful.

He starts coughing, he sputters, he chokes a bit, but he manages to get something out. Geo stares in horror, a black liquid rests in the bucket. He was about to back up again, but he fears Solo choking, he hits his back, hoping it would help. Within seconds, Solo is coughing up more and more of this black sludge. He's sobbing, complaining how painful it is. Geo is scared. Something here is not right. This is not natural.

Solo huffs, he grips the bucket tightly and releases one final batch of black sludge. Once it was over, he sighs in relief, now feeling much better. He goes to lay on the floor, but he falls backward into Geo's embrace instead.

"What…" Geo begins. "What is that?"

"Why, I am Solo's new friend."

Geo looks into the bucket, Solo smiles and looks as well. The black sludge suddenly shoots in the air, a humanoid figure with a long, ghostly tail is formed. This one has pinkish-purplish eyes, the inside of its mouth is the same color. It stares at the two boys. Solo is happy, Geo is horrified.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the shadowy figure begins. "My name is Nairum." It claims. Its voice has a slight. ghostly echo to it, and it sounds feminine.

"Evening, Nairum." Solo greets.

Nairum smiles, "Nice to meet you, Solo. You too, Geo," she sounds angry mentioning his name.

Geo fumbles for words, "What is going on here?"

"Oh, this is my new friend," Solo stands up next to Nairum. "She, along with Eugor, are basically my inner mind as their own individuals."

Geo just stares, "How is this possible?"

"Never mind that. Nairum, what should we do anyway?"

She grins sadistically, "For now, my dear, I think we should head home, but, let's bring him with us."

Geo backs away. Solo grins and EM Wave Changes. Geo runs off, he had sent Omega-xis out earlier to search for his friends. So now he's all alone.

Nairum looks at Rogue, "Remember that dream you've had? Let's say we give him a head start, then we move in and hunt him down."

Rogue's grin widens. Time to play with his prey.


End file.
